The announcement of the location of the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv significantly affected lodging prices for the weekend of the event, as hotels and owners of vacation apartment rushed to increase prices by thousands of shekels.
The Hotels Combined site compared between prices in Tel Aviv during the weekend of the Eurovision Song Contest, Friday through Sunday, and the weekends before and after the event.
In the 4-star hotel category, the price of a hotel on Montefiore Street jumped by 1,346% after the Eurovision Song Contest announcement, from NIS 990 to NIS 14,318. The price on the weekends before and after Eurovision remained unchanged.
In the 5-star hotel category, the price of a hotel on Rothschild Boulevard jumped 145% from NIS 3,035 to NIS 7,390. Vacation apartments on Dvora Hanavi Street jumped by NIS 5,183 because of Eurovision, from NIS 1,880 to NIS 7,063. In hostels as well, which are supposed to provide a cheaper alternative, the price for two beds was doubled to NIS 983 for a hostel on Levontin Street, which generally costs NIS 454 a day.
According to Eyal Segal of the Hotels Combined site, there are 2,060 registered Tel Aviv hotels and holiday apartments, which are supposed to provide for the normal influx of tourists in addition to the 20 thousand tourists expected to flood the city during the Eurovision Song Contest. The surplus of tourism will lead to a rise in residential apartments converted to guesthouses, as it is easier to convert a residential apartment for tourism than to build a new hotel.
Eurovision contest delegations will begin arriving in Tel Aviv in April and May. The final of the competition will take place on May 18 and tourists without a ticket to the event will be able to watch it in the Charles Clore Park, where the Euro-Village complex will be established, which will broadcast the stages of the competition alongside shows and parties.