Histadrut labor federation: More than 60% of the city's hotel staff have been laid off. Hoteliers: It won't be the last hotel to close.
Novotel Jerusalem, owned by the Accor-Clal group, will close next month and its staff of 45 will be laid off. It is the fourth Jerusalem hotel to close this year. Jerusalem Hotels Association director general Yonatan Arpaz told ''Globes'' that he feared it would not be the last.
Arpaz said the long-term damage caused by the closure will be immense. "There are no hotels and no tourists. Jerusalem is the center. Reopening hotels when conditions improve will incur heavy costs and is time consuming," he said.
The 400-room Novotel was one of the newest hotels opened in Jerusalem. It was located on the border between eastern and western Jerusalem, by the Mandelbaum compound. Due to its proximity to eastern Jerusalem, it was one of the first hotels to be affected by the security situation.
Histadrut labor federation Jerusalem region chairman Dan Ben-Sheetrit is negotiating the employees' lay-off terms. He told ''Globes'', "More than 60% of the city's hotel staff have been laid off." He expressed deep concern that more hotels would close.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 24 December 2001