"2010 is a record year for incoming tourism to Israel. Israel has become a hot product in the world," said Tourism Ministry director general Noaz Bar-Nir, at the DC Finance's annual corporate finance conference. Bar-Nir spoke today a few hours after tourist number 3,000,001 arrived in Israel.
At the same time, Bar-Nir warned of expected problems, saying "We are near to exhausting the potential of hotel rooms in Israel." Bar-Nir said that the primary shortage of hotel rooms was in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and around Lake Kineret - about 44,000 hotels rooms in Israel.
According to Bar-Nir, the ministry's goal is 5 million tourists by 2015, and there are currently 19,000 hotel rooms too few to handle such a figure. Bar-Nir called for financing institutions to take advantage of that and extend credit to entrepreneurs in the industry. Statistics he presented showed that the tourism industry, which employs 150,000 people, brings in about NIS 41 billion each year to the Israeli economy, and promised that "this year it will be a lot more".
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 24, 2010
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