Tourism is booming as the Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) holiday season approaches. Travel agencies and airlines are reporting strong demand for foreign vacations. "There are reasons to smile," said Fattal Hotel Management CEO Yosef Fattal, who also serves as the director of the Israel Tourist & Travel Agents Association.
Fattal said that, despite talk of a recession, demand for foreign vacations during the High Holy Days was very strong compared with both the summer and last year's holiday season. He said that the timing of the holidays this year was a factor. "This year, the holidays fall mid-week, resulting in more vacation days."
Arkia Airlines Ltd. VP marketing Dudu Makhlev said that demand for Rosh Hashana and the Sukkot holiday was high. "Seats have already run out, and we're adding flights. For example, we're adding two weekly flights to Rhodes over Sukkot and one flight to Crete. Most of the holiday demand is for the Greek islands."
Makhlev believes that vacation demand over this year's holiday season will ultimately be about the same as last year.
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) is also increasing the number of seats during the holiday season. El Al VP commercial and aviation ties David Maimon says, "Demand this year is exceptional because of the timing of the holidays and shorter summer school break, which is diverting more Israelis to take vacations over the holidays." He added that to meet the strong demand, El Al was adding four flights to Bangkok over the holidays. He believes that the recession will be felt more strongly around the end of the year, not during the holiday season.
British Airways, however, has no plans to increase flights to and from Israel over the holiday season. "We're not increasing or changing our offering," says British Airways Israel manager Yael Katan.
The Israel Hotel Association, however, is reporting weak demand for domestic vacations over the holidays. "At the moment, there is no hysteria of reservations for the holidays," says Eilat Hotel Association general manager Shabtai Shay. "Israelis - and this has been the trend for several years - prefer reserving holidays in Eilat or anywhere else at the last moment in the hope of getting lower prices."
Shay believes that Eilat's hotels will ultimately have 85-90% occupancy rates over the holiday.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 20, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012