Thanks to an amendment to the Planning and Building Law initiated by the Ministry of Tourism, the Government Housing Cabinet approved an addition of 845 hotel rooms in Eilat.
Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin said: “The approval for the addition of 845 rooms to Eilat is a huge line for tourism in the city, and we are also making an unprecedented leap in the construction of guest rooms.
Asher Gabbay, owner of the Astral hotel chain said: “The move by the Tourism Minister to solve the bureaucratic complication and to promote the construction of hotels within the framework of the HUITAL is ingenious. Normally, processing a request for a change in the urban building plan can take up to six years, now within this program it should take about one year and four months. The difference in time frame saves a lot of money. The new hotel will allow us to market a room for NIS 200 per night.”
The government housing cabinet, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism, today approved the plan approved by the National Infrastructure Committee, which allows the Astral hotel chain to build a new 500-room hotel, The chain’s hotels in Eilat:
Astral Palma Hotel – an addition of 60 suites.
Astral Village – 40 extra rooms.
Astral Nirvana Hotel – 50 accommodation units.
Astral Nirvana Suites – 50 accommodation units.
Astral Maris Hotel – 145 rooms.
Total construction rights of 845 rooms to the city of Eilat.
845 hotel accommodation rooms will be added to Eilat within the framework of Astral’s request, submitted to the National Infrastructure Committee. In addition, there are rights to build another 400 rooms, and a total of 1,245 rooms that will be built over the next six years, the network reported.
The committee was established with the aim of institutionalizing a unique planning body, which will specialize in statutory promotion and planning of detailed plans before implementing, on a short schedule, infrastructure programs of national importance. For the first time under the leadership of the Ministry of Tourism, hotels have been defined as a national infrastructure, and the committee has the authority to shorten bureaucratic procedures and timetables in all matters related to the procedures of their planning.
According to Amendment 107 to the Planning and Building Law, which was approved in 2016, it was decided that the Minister of Tourism may declare a tourism complex that will be properly defined for a national infrastructure program in several tracks: one or more hotels, including at least 400 accommodation units in one complex, Accommodation units, or an initiative to establish at least four hotels in a regional or national layout.
In addition to approving the plan in the Housing Cabinet, the developers submitted applications for grants under the Encouragement of Capital Investments Law. Pursuant to the provisions of the Law and in accordance with the Ministry’s procedures, the enterprise is expected to receive grants up to 33% of the recognized investment amount of the Originator.
Entrepreneur Asher Gabay adds: “The HUTAL has shortened our time by at least half and has made our low-cost hotel relevant. Beyond that, the approval today provides support for Eilat’s low-cost tourism. The new hotel will allow us to sell a room for NIS 200 per night, from the outset it is adapted to operationally inefficient tourism. The hotel will have advanced technology and the only option to sell rooms at attractive and cheap prices is to build a hotel that will meet high standards, innovative and international. “Gabbai also wants to clarify that a building permit is expected to be received in January 2020 and the beginning of construction in February 2020.
