RAMALLAH, September 27, 2009 (WAFA)- The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics  (PCBS) said 168,582 Hotel Guests Spent 409,013 Nights, during the first half of 2009.

On the occasion of World Tourism Day on September 27 of each year, PCBS said in a report that total number of guests during the first half of 2009 in hotels was 168,582, of which 12.5% were Palestinian, and 34.6% were from the European Union countries, while of which 168,094 were in West Bank, and 488 were from Gaza, and the number of nights was 409,013. This was a decrease of 21% compared with the number of guests for the same period last year.

The report said, The number of hotels in the Palestinian Territory during the first half of the year 2009 increased by 11% compared with previous year, reaching 91 hotels by the middle of 2009, with a capacity of 4,511 rooms, including 9,825 beds. The average number of employees in these hotels was 1,490 of which 15% of them were female, while in Gaza Strip there are 11 hotels, including 229 rooms and comprising 425 beds, where the average number of workers in these hotels was 113 of which 5% of them were female.

Jerusalem governorate has the largest number of hotels with 29 hotels, including 1,513 rooms comprising 3,355 beds; in the Middle of the West Bank there are 22 hotels with a capacity of 971 rooms comprising 2,244 beds; in the South of the West Bank there are 22 hotels, including 1,662 rooms comprising 3,509 beds.

The results of the household survey 2008 indicate that 30% of the Palestinian households took domestic trips during the year 2008, 28% in the West Bank, and 34% in Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank 26% of the households that took trips visited Jericho and Al-Aghwar governorate, while 22% visited Qalqilya governorate, and 13% visited Nablus governorate. The data show that in Gaza Strip 39% of the households that took trips visited Gaza governorate, while 25% visited Khan Younis governorate.

The average expenditure for domestic tourism by the Palestinian household was US$ 41.4 while expenditure by households of the West Bank was US$ 47.2 compared to US$ 32.5 for households in the Gaza Strip.  The distribution of expenditure according to the mode of the household’s consumption during the trip showed that the consumption on food and drink was US$ 17.0, on transportation telecommunications was US$ 15.3, on entertainment activities was US$ 5.0 and on shopping was US$ 4.1.

The results show that 92% of the visited areas have restaurants and parks, 86% have basic health facilities, 65% have cafes and 63% have commercial enterprises.  Results indicated that 48% of the visited areas have swimming pools, 12% have tourism information and only 5.0% of visited areas have hotels.