RAMALLAH, February 26, 2007, (WAFA)- The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said Monday that the number of operating hotels in the Palestinian Territory in December 2006 was 79 hotels, comprising a total of 4,079 rooms with a total of 8,733 available beds.

In a report on main findings of the hotel survey for the fourth quarter 2006,PCBS revealed that the results showed that the number of workers in the Palestinian Territory hotels was 1,302 of which 13.5% were females.

During the fourth quarter 2006 the total number of guests to the Palestinian hotels was 37,008 persons, of which 31.1% were from the European Union Countries and 16.9% of them were Palestinian guests.

"Most of those guests were in Jerusalem hotels with a percentage of 51.4% from the guests total, where as the percentage reached up to 22.3% in the Middle of the West Bank hotels, and 21.3%, 3.3% in the South and North of the West Bank hotels respectively, while percentage of guests in Gaza Strip hotels was 1.7%," PCBS added.

Number of guests Nights and distribution:

The total number of guest nights in the Palestinian hotels during the fourth quarter 2006 was 81,297 nights, of which 36.8% by the guests whom arrived from European Union countries and 11.2% of these nights was occupied by Palestinian guests, while, 10.3% of these nights were occupied by the guests whom arrived from United State of America and Canada, according to the report.

The percentage of guests whom arrived from outside the Palestinian Territory during the fourth quarter of 2006 is 83.1%, while this percent is equal 81.0% during the third quarter 2006.

PCBS concluded that 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 71.5% during the fourth quarter 2006 comparing with the same quarter of the year 1999, and the number of nights declined by 71.6%.

M.H.(09:51 P)(07:51 GMT)