The Israel Ministry of Tourism continues to help the local tourism industry, to increase the accommodation supply to lower prices. The Investment Administration in the Tourism Ministry has recently received 107 applications from entrepreneurs seeking grants to build and expand hotels.
Investors, who are optimistic about the rehabilitation of Israel’s incoming tourism industry, are seeking to establish and convert existing buildings to hotels and expand existing buildings or restore them to their original purpose. 70 applications were submitted in the building permit tracking, 22 requests as part of a track to restore buildings to hotel use and convert existing buildings into hotels, and 15 applications were submitted in the implementation track by companies who have a building permit. This year’s grant budget stands at NIS 165 million. The directives of the Investment Administration for 2022 were published last April and the deadline for applications to be submitted was mid-May 2022.
The Israel Minister of Tourism Yoel Razvozov spoke about Israels current tourism opportunities, “There is a great deal of optimism and interest among the tourism industry. This year, we broke the record for the number of grant requests for opening new hotels in Israel, with over one hundred applications submitted. The Israel Ministry of Tourism continues to invest vast efforts in increasing incoming tourism traffic to Israel and shortening the amount of time it takes to build hotels. This will inject billions of shekels into the state coffers.”
As is well known, the corona crisis interrupted the upward growth trend in incoming tourism, which culminated in record figures in 2019 of over 4.5 million tourists. During the crisis, the Ministry of Tourism focused on preserving and nurturing the tourism infrastructure and continued assistance to entrepreneurs. This is to prepare for the return of growth. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the tourism industry’s annual contribution to the economy (before the pandemic) stood at about NIS 40 billion. The ministry is working to restore incoming tourism traffic to Israel and for the industry’s recovery following the crisis.
Despite the effects of the pandemic, progress has been registered in both planning new hotel projects and in building projects that were planned before the outbreak of the pandemic. The ministry continues to work to realize the potential inherent in hotel investments, to increase the number of tourists, and, as a result, to increase revenue from tourism to the economy.
