TEL AVIV (VINnews) — The “corona effect” is already dramatically effecting the tourism industry both in Israel and abroad, with multiple cancellations and desperate airline companies offering flights for as low as 13$. The new stringent guidelines of Israel’s health ministry have drastically reduced hotel bookings and a number of hotels have announced that they are closing. Some of the hotel companies announced that the closure will be used to renovate the hotels.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The Isrotel chain has decided to close the Isrotel Tower hotel in Tel Aviv in order to streamline costs due to the massive drop in bookings. Guests at the hotel were transferred to the Royal Beach hotel which is also owned by the same chain. Isrotel claimed that the hotel would be undergoing renovations in the interim.
Most of Tel Aviv’s hotels depend on tourist bookings and are therefore acutely affected by the present crisis. Isrotel Manager Lior Raviv says that Tel Aviv hotels are at 10-15% capacity at present and the chain utilized the fact that it has two hotels to merge its activities.
The Fattal chain which also maintains a number of hotels in Tel Aviv was considering similar steps to offset the effects of the corona outbreak. Moreover the president of the hotels association, Amir Chayik, announced that 4000 workers would be released for unpaid leave due to the crisis. Chayik estimated the losses to the industry at 350 million NIS per month.
The Isrotel chain had been enjoying success due to Israel’s tourist boom in recent years and last year announced that it intended opening 10 new hotels by 2025, increasing the chain to 30 hotels. The hotels are intended for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, The Dead Sea as well as Eilat. The present crisis may adversely affect long-term expansion as well as maintaining the current hotels in the chain.