By Haim Shapiro
The Jerusalem Post
JERUSALEM (July 4) - The Israel Hotel Association is holding its biennial conference today under the heavy clouds
of a continuing crisis in tourism and the feeling the government is not doing anything to help the beleaguered
hoteliers.
"If there is no help forthcoming by the end of the summer, then by the winter the government officials will
have to talk to the bankruptcy receivers and the banks," Avi Ella, president of the Hotel Association, said
yesterday.
Some 350 hoteliers are due to take part in the gathering, which President Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi, Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh, Health Minister Nissim Dahan, and Histadrut
Chairman Amir Peretz are due to attend. However, the event is taking place during what the hoteliers describe as
an all-time low for tourism.