Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Palestinian Hotels Get a Boost

Is a tourism boon taking hold in Palestinian hotels? According to new numbers from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it would seem so. More people are booking, and when they do, they are staying for longer, the figures show.

Some 135,939 guests stayed in Palestinian hotels during the third quarter of 2009. This figure represents a 42% boost from the same period last year and a 37% increase on the second quarter of 2009 (though bear in mind that hotels are always quieter in the second quarter than the third, which includes the summer).

The number of guest nights was also up, at 310,643, an increase of 30% from the same period last year.

This is good news for Palestinian employment. At a time when hotels in many parts of the world are axing jobs there are 5% more people employed in Palestinian-sector tourism than during the third quarter last year.

So what’s behind the figures? The global economic crisis seems to be helping. Half of the guests are in Jerusalem, where international tourists have the choice of an Israeli or a Palestinian hotel. Palestinian hotels tend to be cheaper, which may help explain the trend.

As for guests choosing West Bank hotels (only 1% of visitors were in Gaza), there are a few factors in play. Firstly, it’s becoming easier and more common for Israeli Arabs to travel to West Bank cities. Secondly, some easing in roadblocks is reportedly making visits to the West Bank less difficult. And thirdly, the Palestinian Authority is investing in tourism.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.