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Lodgings in this superb location will have to be luxurious – no entrepreneur would invest money to build just a two-star hotel or hostel for young travelers or pilgrims.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Updated: SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 20:46
A view of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A view of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Tourism Ministry is seeking to promote major hotel development around the famous and beautiful promenade near East Talpiot, with its magnificent view of the Old City and the Temple Mount. There is no question that the location offers what is probably one the most attractive – one could say hauntingly attractive – views in the world.
Lodgings in this superb location will have to be luxurious – no entrepreneur would invest money to build just a two-star hotel or hostel for young travelers or pilgrims.
The Israel Lands Authority, which owns the site and published the tender for the project, will allow the construction of up to 600 hotel rooms on one of the plots, out of a total of 1,330 rooms for the whole site, in what is known as plan No. 4711. It will include underground parking for buses and tourists, and additional facilities.
The overall project is based on figures recommended for the recovery of tourism to Israel, with visits to Jerusalem being the major aim. According to ministry figures (based on figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics), some three million tourists came here in 2012, with the capital being the main objective.
Thus, the necessity for suitable hotel accommodation and other facilities is evident.
However, not everyone is happy about the plan to add more large luxury hotels in Jerusalem, especially considering that average room occupancy was around 60 percent between 2007 and 2013. This does not take into account the steep drop in tourism following Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and the more recent violence in Jerusalem, including the turmoil on the Temple Mount. Those events caused restaurants, coffee shops and bars in the city center to close for good, while businesses that have remained open are still struggling to reach the peaks of 2012-2013.
Deputy Mayor Ofer Berkowitz (Hitorerut), who holds the portfolio for tourism and businesses in the city center, says he would very much like to see more projects for small, affordable hotels – the kind suited, in his opinion, to the demands of younger tourists.
“We already have almost 10,000 hotel rooms in the city, the majority in big, luxurious hotels,” Berkowitz says. “I am personally against adding more of the same, and expect those of us on the city council to offer an acceptable solution to less wealthy visitors who wish to come.”
With regard to the plans for the promenade, he admits that “when we talk of that specific – and special – location, there is no question that it deserves such a project.”
The owners of smaller hotels in the city center point out that while hotels belonging to large international chains can afford drops in tourism, others cannot.
Such hotels need support and backing programs from the city and the Tourism Ministry.