Hoteliers report increase of 20% in number of reservations made in October compared to previous year; fear shortage in hotel rooms in coming years
The Tourism Ministry reported Tuesday that during October 2007, over 2 million rooms were occupied in hotels throughout the country. This marks a 20% increase compared to last year, and a 21% compared to October 2005.
Some 45% of rooms (about 900,000) were booked by tourists – 80% more than in October 2006, and the rest by Israelis. The average occupancy rate during October was 73%, 23% higher than last year.
Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that he expected a new record will be set by the end of the year both in terms of incoming tourism and hotels' occupancy rates.
Minister Aharonovitch further noted that "these figures require us to start preparing immediately for the expected flow of tourists. We have been warning that within three years there will be a significant 
shortage in available hotel rooms. Such a shortage will cost the tourism industry and the Israeli economy millions of dollars in damages."
According to Tourism Ministry's data, the shortage will be felt as early as 2012 with a predicted influx of 5 million tourists a year.
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