Red Sea resort Eilat is in trouble. Half of the 17 weekly direct charter flights to the city, which were counted on to fill its hotels this winter (October-April) with incoming tourists, mainly from Russia, but also from France, the Netherlands, Finland, and Denmark, were canceled in the wake of Operation Protective Edge.
In its hour of need, Eilat is turning to the Israeli tourist. The Eilat Municipality, the Municipal Tourist Corporation of Eilat and the Eilat Hotels Association announced at the beginning of the week an average price cut of 18% and a uniform rate in 23 of the city's 25 beachfront areas. For example, a small bottle of mineral water is now being offered for NIS 5 on the Eilat beachfront, and a large bottle for NIS 10. A half-liter bottle of beer is being sold for NIS 24, and an easy chair for NIS 6. "The uniform price is designed to improve the tourism product and encourage tourism to Eilat during the winter," said Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi. In order to attract masses of Israelis to Eilat out of the tourist season, however, a bigger effort is needed. These organizations realize this and are preparing to launch a branding campaign for January-March 2015 aimed at various target audiences.
With respect to overnight prices in the city, which rise sky high during the summer, sometimes exceeding the price of a comparable vacation in various destinations around the Mediterranean sea basin, even including flights, Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd. VP sales and services Gil Stav said, "The prices of the packages for Eilat that we are currently selling reflect a 15% reduction in last winter's prices, due to the effects of Operation Protective Edge." Israir is marketing vacation packages to Eilat.
"Incoming tourism to Eilat has suffered a blow; tourism entities in the city have to fill the city with tourists somehow, so they are preparing for aggressive marketing of the city to the Israeli tourist," said Eilat Hotel Association general manager Shabtai Shay. He added, "The hoteliers expecting poor occupancy rates in November-January have to adapt themselves to the situation by lowering their prices."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 6, 2014
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