Tourism to Israel has dropped dramatically since October 2000 and shows no sign of reviving. Data from the Israel Tourism Authority indicates that the number of international travelers entering and exiting the country from Ben-Gurion Airport in the first three weeks of February was 15.36 percent lower this year than in the same period last year. This year some 328,000 international travelers passed through Ben-Gurion in this three-week period, compared to 388,525 a year ago.

Domestic Tourism Saves The Industry

A 50 percent drop in the number of foreign tourists in the first two months of this year, compared to January and February of 2000, was reported by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

This drop, however, was in part offset by the increase in hotel stays by Israelis, up 20 percent year on year for the same two months. Hotels are reporting occupancy rates of 42 percent, compared to 52 percent in the same period of 2000, but this did not account for those rooms temporarily closed due to the crisis in tourism. Taking these hotel rooms into account, the occupancy rate averaged out at 39 percent.

The Central Bureau of Statistics described the drop in tourism as an exceptional event, brought on by the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada's violence last September, but added that the underlying statistics showed a usual seasonal variation, with holidays and other factors also affecting tourism.

Israelis did indeed stop staying in hotels immediately after September's outbreak of violence. But the statistics showed they soon returned to the hotels, lured by bargains on offer in the industry.

Israelis however were traveling more, with stays in hotels increasing 27 percent in Eilat and 18 percent at the Dead Sea .

Kibbutz Hotel Becomes Absorption Center

After 50 years as a tourist center, the Galilee-based Ayelet Hashahar Kibbutz Guest House has been turned into an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants. With prospects for a tourist recovery so dim for 2001, we decided to look for another option, said kibbutz general manager Guy Kaplan. He said the occupancy rate at the kibbutz facilities a building with 144 rooms, plus 65 bed-and-breakfast rooms, had dipped to about 25 percent since the Intifada flared in late September. It needs 53 percent to break even.

Nisan 5761 - April 2001