RAMALLAH, April 23, 2007, (WAFA)-The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics(PCBS) said that the number of hotels operating in the Palestinian Territory as of December 2006 was 79 hotels, comprising a total of 3,897 rooms with a total of 8,429 available beds.

In a press release issued Monday on Hotel Survey for year 2006, PCBS said that 22 hotels with a total of 1,007 rooms and 2,260 beds were in the Jerusalem area. The results show that the number of workers in the Palestinian hotels was 1,329 of which 13% were female workers.

"During the year 2006, the total number of guests in the Palestinian Territory hotels reached 151,801 persons, of these, 35% were guests from the European Union countries, and 10% were from Asian countries. The total number of guest nights was 383,603 nights, of which 14% were for Palestinian guests, 12% were for Israelis, and 37% were for guests from the European Union Countries," PCBS added.

Most of those guests stayed in Jerusalem hotels, 53% stayed in Jerusalem, 21% were in the Middle of the West Bank hotels, 22% in the South and 3% in the North of West Bank hotels. The percentage of guests in Gaza Strip hotels was 2%.

"Since September 2000, there has been a dramatic drop in the main indicators of hotel activity, because of Israeli measures against the Palestinian institutions. By comparing with the year 2000, we found that the number of guests reached 355,711 persons, but it declined in 2001 and 2002 to reach 60,211 and 51,357 respectively, which was the lowest number of guests since September 2000," PCBS said.

It added that the hotel activity increased after 2002, which was the lowest point for all the hotel indicators, after a series of Israeli measures at that time. The number of guests increased in the years after 2002, reaching 62,812 during 2003, 100,184 during 2004, 131,908 during 2005 and, finally, reached to 151,801 in 2006.

PCBS concluded that the increase in the number of guests was accompanied by an improvement in every aspect concerning hotel indicators, mainly the number of nights and the rate of occupancy of rooms and beds. The percentage of room occupancy during 2000 was 32%, it decreased in 2002 to 10% of hotel rooms, and was 16% during the year 200.

M.H.(10:00 P)(07:00 GMT)