RAMALLAH, August 26, 2006 (WAFA) -Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said that 45,887 foreign guests spent 119,815 nights in the Palestinian Territory during the Second Quarter 2006 .

In a press release issued Saturday for the hotel survey, second Quarter 2006, PCBS revealed that the number of operating hotels in the Palestinian Territory in June 2006 was 76 hotels, comprising a total of 3,812 rooms with a total of 8,338 available beds.

PCBS pointed out that the results showed the number of workers in the Palestinian Territory hotels was 1,365 of which 12.7% were females, adding that during the second quarter 2006, the total number of guests to the Palestinian Territory reached 45.887 persons, of which 43.9% were from European Union countries, and 17.5% were from Palestinian guests, while the total number of guest nights reached 119,815 of which 11.2% were Palestinian guests, and 46.1% were guests from the European Union countries.

It made it clear that the number of guests whom arrived from outside Palestinian Territory during the second quarter of 2006 increased to 82.5%, compared with 64.9%, 63.4%, 61.9%, and 74.5%, in the four quarters of 2005 respectively and 75.8% in first quarter 2006. This increase was accompanied with an increase in the number of nights of those guests.

"The average occupancy of rooms in the Palestinian hotels was 774.7, and the percentage occupancy of rooms was 20.5%. This is considered the highest after year 2001," it said.

PCBS also added that since September 2000, there has been a dramatic drop in the main indicators of hotel activity due to the Israeli measures against the Palestinian population.

"The results showed that the decline in the percentage occupancy of rooms reached 56.8% by comparing with the same quarter of the year 2000, and the number of nights declined by 63.6%, this reduction considered the lowest in the previous five years," it concluded.

H.M. (15:32 P) (12:32 GMT)