“We are continuing the tourism revolution at the Dead Sea and leveraging it as an attractive and modern tourist destination,” said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin.
By EYTAN HALONAn illustration of new hotels due to be constructed at the Dead Sea(photo credit: MOSHE SAFDIE ARCHITECTS LTD.)
Four luxury hotels will be built in the Dead Sea area, adding 1,000 hotel rooms for visitors to the lowest point on Earth, the Israel Land Authority (ILA) and the Tourism Ministry announced on Tuesday.The development plan, managed by the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company, also includes the construction of large shopping and conference centers.The additional rooms will increase the capacity of hotels at the Dead Sea by approximately 25%, after nearly two decades without the construction of a hotel in the region.The ILA tenders to establish the hotels and commercial spaces, located in a new tourism area between Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar, were won by Africa Israel, Fattal Hotels, Elad Hotels and Barclays Israel for a combined sum of NIS 95.4 million ($27.3m.).“We are continuing the tourism revolution at the Dead Sea and leveraging it as an attractive and modern tourist destination,” said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin.“Given the significant increase in the number of tourists arriving in Israel, I welcome the start of the process of building more than one thousand new rooms at the Dead Sea. This is a great step forward on the road to dramatic change in the region.”Africa Israel, based in Yehud, won the only contract for a 220-room hotel in the Hamei Zohar area of the Dead Sea, near the existing Herod’s and Leonardo Plaza hotels. Fattal Hotels, the operator of 37 luxury hotels nationwide, successfully bid for a 198-room hotel plot on the water’s edge between Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar.Elad Hotels won contracts to construct two hotels between Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar – a 253-room hotel on the waterfront and a complex of 330 rooms built on an area surrounded by the sea. Construction must be completed within six years. The company also won the tender for the construction of a conference center spanning over 11,500 sq.m.Barclays Israel, the owner of the 12,000 sq.m. Dead Sea Mall inaugurated in 2018, won the tender to construct a new commercial area, spanning over 26,500 sq.m. also between Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar.“After almost 20 years in which no new hotels have been built in the area, a new impetus has arrived to build hotels, a commercial area and an extensive area for conferences,” said ILA director Adiel Shomron.“In this tender, a special model was built in which the price of the land was minimal and fixed and the competition was focused on development costs, so that the state subsidy, via the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company, will be spent effectively and without wasting public resources.”Between January and October, hotel occupancy rate at Dead Sea hotels stood at approximately 69%. Hotel popularity in the area peaked in May, when hotels recorded an occupancy rate of 77.3%.
Related TagsDead SeaYariv Levin
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
