Incoming tourists plummet in 2006 to only 1.6 million

[bemildred]

The rosy predictions of 2.4 million foreign tourists in 2006 have been replaced by estimates of only 1.6 million and $1.1 billion in lost revenues. Unless immediate marketing action is taken, 2007 could be even more dismal, with only 1.5 million foreigners visiting the country.

This chilling forecast was presented yesterday by the president of the Israel Hotel Association (IHA) executive, Eli Gonen.

"An immediate investment of about $30 million will reduce the damage by about $2 billion, and so each day that goes by without genuine movement on the part of the government to limit the damage prolongs the expected crisis in 2007," Gonen said. He says there is no time to wait for the treasury to approve an emergency budget, for the money to make its way to the Tourism Ministry and for the marketing actions that should have been taken two weeks ago with the declaration of the cease-fire to get under way.

"The rescue of incoming tourism to Israel should have started immediately," Gonen declared. "We must cut red tape, overcome the lack of a budget and immediately allocate an initial sum of $10 million for marketing," he said.

Haaretz

[Drum]

1. Snort! n/t

[lumpy]

2. The Holy Land has lost it's luster.

It has become unholy.

[bemildred]

3. Israeli Jul Tourism Dn 25% On Yr, 155,000 Visitors Fly In

JERUSALEM (Dow Jones)--The number of tourists arriving in Israel by air in July was 25% less than in July 2005, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

About 155,000 tourists arrived this July, compared with 206,400 in the same month of 2005.

The steep fall in what is traditionally one of the busiest tourism months, was due to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah which saw many tourists cancel or postpone trips to Israel, Ministry of Tourism officials said.

From the end of June to the end of July, the number of tourists dropped 5.7% on the annual rate, the statistics bureau said. By contrast, the annual rate of tourism increased 12.1% between the end of June 2005 and the end of July 2005.

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006083012400013&Take=1