Europeans make up 40% of Palestinian visitors

More than 40% of the guests who stayed in Palestinian hotels in the West Bank during fourth quarter 2012 were from European Union countries, a report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said Wednesday. It said over 150,000 guests stayed in hotels in the West Bank during that quarter and while the Europeans made 40% of the guests, 11% were Palestinians and 9% from the United States and Canada. Percentage of hotel guests increased by 11% compared to the previous quarter and also increased by 4% compared to third quarter of 2012, it added. Room occupancy rate was 28% in the fourth quarter of 2012, which was 0.4% lower than in the previous quarter and 0.1% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2011. Most of the hotels were concentrated in the center of the West Bank, such as Ramallah, and Jerusalem where each area had 30 hotels even though the Jerusalem hotels had more rooms than those in the center of the West Bank. The southern area of the West Bank, which includes the biblical city of Bethlehem, had 27 hotels and the northern areas had 11 hotels.