Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov today (Wednesday, June 9th) announced that “The increase in incoming tourism to Israel that has continued for the last six months, together with the interest of Israeli and international investors and entrepreneurs, obligates a significant investment in supply.”

Misezhnikov made this statement as a result of the published data on incoming tourism. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 309,000 tourists visited Israel in May 2010 – an all-time record for the month of May – and an increase of 33% on May 2009 and 4% on May 2008. 1.4 million tourists visited Israel since the beginning of the year, an increase of 42% on the same period last year and 11% more than 2008, which was Israel’s record year for tourism to date. Of these, 1.1 million stayed in Israel at least one night – an increase of 30% on 2009 and 5% on 2008.
 
“In accordance with the Tourism Ministry’s three-year plan, an additional million tourists will have visited Israel in 2012, in total four million tourists and business people, and we must be ready to offer them an attractive tourism answer be it in the level of service or quality. Competition with other countries in the region will intensify significantly in the coming months and years and, in order to compete, the ministry will allocate a significant portion of its budget to helping entrepreneurs. The ministry will allocate half a billion shekels to assist in hotel projects whose total investment cost is estimated at about 2 billion shekels and will lead to the construction of thousands of hotel rooms that will contribute hundreds of millions of shekels and thousands of jobs into the economy”, the minister added.

As part of this policy, the Tourism Ministry’s Investment Administration yesterday approved grants worth 65 million shekels to five hotel projects in Jerusalem (Waldorf Astoria and a boutique hotel in Ein Kerem) and the Galilee (Hagoshrim Hotel, Ein Hahula, and Prima Tiveria) whose total investment stands at 330 million shekels.

The Capital Investment in Tourism Administration that recently moved to the Tourism Ministry from the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry began operating under its new framework two weeks ago in accordance with the Encouragement of Capital Investments law. The new framework is designed to reduce bureaucracy and make the process easier for Israeli and international investors and entrepreneurs who, until now, had suffered from bureaucratic procedures and a lack of efficiency which adversely affected their motivation to invest in hotels in Israel.

In addition, the National Tourism Outline Plan (NOP 12), developed by the Tourism Ministry over the last decade, has been completed and will be submitted for cabinet approval shortly. The plan, which is based on ensuring the preservation of land reserves for tourism, attractions and hotels in the coming years, also sends an important message to Israeli and international investors that Israel is an attractive country for investment in hotels.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)