An interview with Nachshon Tzuk about the future of tourism in Haifa
Nachshon Tzuk is the deputy mayor of Haifa, the acting mayor of Haifa and the holder of the tourism portfolio. This week, about nine months after his appointment to the position, Nachshon already knows a lot about the current situation in Haifa. We met and discussed his plans to promote tourism in Haifa. Tourism as an engine for the development of the city.
Existing situation - tourism in Haifa
Nachshon Tzuk: When I took office, I found a city with very low occupancy rates in the hotels in Haifa. The number of hotel rooms in the city is unknown to the municipal bodies handling the issue, but our estimate is that there are about 1,500 hotel rooms in Haifa. In Haifa, the amount of accommodation is low and the city has shaky relations with the surrounding cities, in terms of planning routes for tourists.
What else do we have in Haifa?
The hotel rooms are not suitable for the general public:
In Haifa, most of the rooms are divided between a very high level (over 100 euros per night) and a very low level (hostels and cheap rooms). That means that there is zero supply of rooms at intermediate prices, suitable for the average tourist, that is, a room in a 2-3 star hotel at prices of 50 dollars per night. The tourist who arrives is looking for the price in the middle, and today there is a shortage of hotel rooms at an intermediate price.
The Baha'i gardens - the big waste of tourism in Haifa
About 900 people come to Haifa a year to see the Bahá'í Gardens, but these visitors do not leave a penny in the city, they neither stay nor shop in the city. Their route is to hop on a bus to the Lui Promenade, pick up at Sderot Zion and move out of the city. There are no shops or restaurants at the drop-off and pick-up point and the experience is very specific and short. As a result of this situation, the residents of the city of Haifa gain almost nothing from this international tourist attraction.
Tourists on passenger ships - quickly evaporate to other cities
Tons of tourists arrive at the port of Haifa on ships (cruises), but about 70 percent of the tourists get on buses, which are waiting for them on the platform and immediately leave the city on buses, mainly to Jerusalem and Nazareth. 30 percent of the tourists, remaining on the ship, it is not clear (there is no data collection) if they get off the ship at all.
Note: In the picture in front of you you can see the neat bus parking lot (the brown parking lot), which launches the tourists directly from the ship out of the city. The complex itself is closed as a fortified destination and the connection between the tourists and the city of Haifa is unclear
City Break - Ministry of Tourism program that bypassed Haifa
The Ministry of Tourism came up with a program called One break - Two cities, which talks about the movement of tourists between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, meaning that in the plan of the Ministry of Tourism, Haifa does not actually exist.
the companies ofLow Cost Landing at Terminal 1 in Israel, where there is no train station. This is another obstacle facing the tourist who wants to get to Haifa (if he is even interested).
Due to this transportation network, a tourist flying abroad at Low Cost, has to leave Haifa about 4.5 hours before the flight.
The tourist attractions in Haifa - existing situation - partial and not professionally regulated
When we travel the world what are we actually looking for? Culinary • attractions • street music • shopping • the experience of the place.
- The tourist gets up in the morning and looks for a cafe (There are many).
- Shopping Street – nothing.
- Restaurants for lunch – There are many. (Currently most of the restaurants in Haifa are empty in the middle of the week, most of the activity is mainly on the weekend.)
- live shows - Not enough for tourists.
- Itineraries in the city are not regulated.
- accessible transportation - NO
Hiking itineraries in Haifa - current situation
Haifa has a lot to see (one of the most beautiful cities in Israel and in the world) and there is somewhere to eat (authentic food of all kinds), there is local culture, the difficulty is that currently there is no structured route where the tourist can tour between interesting points. Therefore, the hotels have no itineraries to offer and even the tour guides have difficulty leading a group on a structured, clean, lively and interesting route that passes between clear and well-maintained points.
Haifa airport - not suitable for planes from Europe:
The old terminal is in the western part of the field. This building is not earthquake resistant and its renovation is necessary, for safety reasons. This building is located on the opposite side of the Trans-Gulf train station, so it has no connection to the transportation hubs. We plan to move the terminal to the west side of the field and attach it to the train station. The train is 300 meters from the track, but today you have to drive about 6 kilometers from the train to reach the terminal.
The soldiers of the Air Force's technical school walk about 600 meters every morning on a winding track to the technical school. We are interested in a tunnel from the Gulf crossing station, which is about 300 meters long, to the GATE which will be on the eastern side of the route.
The extension of the runway of the Haifa airport
The track is currently 1,300 meters long. We want to extend it up to 2,100 meters, to adapt it to the landings of international flights. Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem promised the public that the first action she would take upon entering the mayor's office would be to put her case in the office and run to Jerusalem to fight for the airport...and she did. In fact, Einat did this even before she was elected mayor, which harmed her availability for negotiations the coalition before the elections.
The importance of the airport - people ask me why an airport is so important to the strategic plan of and I must explain:
The Ministry of Transportation plans to extend the field from 1,300 meters to 1,600 + a safety range of 240 meters, which are not used for flight. A total of about 1,840 meters. Such a field would allow a flight range of 1,100 miles for an Embraer type aircraft that seats 90 to 110 passengers.
Medium-sized planes, for example 737 or Airbus A320, landed in Greece with a field length of 1,900 meters. This field brings to Mykonos 1. million tourists a year from all over Europe.
We want such a field, similar to Mykonos, of a minimum of 1,900 net meters and estimate the potential of half a million to a million tourists who will land here on their way north: Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Caesarea, Acre, Hermon, etc.
In the north of the country there is an abundant culture, there is great cuisine here. Tourists have many reasons to land here.
Desirable situation - the tourism vision in Haifa:
Nachshon Tzuk: In order to stimulate incoming tourism (domestic tourism and foreign tourism) to Haifa, we must create an organized and professional local scene, where the tourist will have somewhere to travel, what to buy and where to eat. The tourist also expects authentic and local live music, the information should be accessible and known in advance to the hotels. The hotels should direct the tourists to places where live music is played.
The city of Haifa should offer tourists regulated tourist routes, intended for walking, in which there is a mix of shopping, restaurants, cafes, interesting sites, dance performances and music concerts.
Regarding local theater - relevant to the Israeli tourist less to the tourist dance Because of the language difficulty.
I think that the gap between what is present and what is desired is not very large. I estimate that we can fill the gap within a few years.
The biggest difficulty I see is actually in shopping, since there is an existing mix of stores. Tourists are looking for souvenirs, t-shirts, perfumes... Today we do not have urban streets that center an integrated scene of shopping, restaurants, cafes and sightseeing, which means that such a street or several streets need to be developed, which will cater to tourists.
Itineraries for tourists in Haifa that are part of the overall plan for revitalizing the tourism sector in the city
◄ The axis of the stairs from the center of the Carmel to Paris Square - development of a tourist attraction
We are interested in developing a route that starts in the center of Carmel: going down the Gedera steps in Ypa Nof, through Henrietta Sold, Spinoza steps, westward at Bar Giora, crossing Masada and Gan Kessel, through the Valley of Olives, to the Prophets. (Prophets Street is supposed to become Haifa's central shopping street).
Through the steps of the prophets to the Paris Square area, meaning that this is how the tourist actually returns to the ship area, or the train area.
◄ the axis of the markets - Talpiot - Wadi Nisnas - German colony
Talfiot, Derech Sirkin, until Shapira, to the square in front of the city hall, to the west, the Garden of Remembrance, the Tower of the Prophets, Derech Hori, Wadi Nisnas and from there to the German seat.
From the German colony we have a plan to create a track for running, electric bikes and scooters, all the way to the surfers' beach at the Allenby interchange.
◄ Talpiot Market
We want to revive the Talfiot market in additional evenings of the week, in the evening the focus is on the restaurants that operate in the market. Einat fought against Yona for the market to be sold to private hands, because it is very important for us to revive it.
Talfiot market is built on several floors. We have to renovate the ground floor, where most of the activity takes place today, and above it 3 more floors that need to be renovated and filled with content. The market is planned to be integrated into our general plan for the market axis.
◄ The flea market axis to Gan Binyamin and the assistance of stairlifters
Another axis for tourist traffic is an excursion route that will start at the flea market, from there going up on the Sokolov axis, with the help of escalators, passing under the Gvirol stone, through the Shukri steps towards Gan Binyamin.
◄ Stairs cinema
This week (August 2019) the construction of Cinema on the stairs, where children's films will be shown, which will be shown to the audience, free of charge, on the steps of the city. when the kids are on summer vacation. The public will sit on cushions. In the coming days the film program will be released and we will publish it to the public.
The stairs are an urban resource and I want people to understand the great potential inherent in them.
The work plan for the realization of the tourism vision in Haifa
1. Strategy for inbound foreign tourism and the relationship between it and the international airport
We are currently linking the strategic plan for tourism in Haifa with the existence of an international airport. The reason for this is that if pilgrims from Europe land here, we will offer them accommodation in Haifa, after they land in Sheda or before they leave back to Europe. They will also be able to sail by ship to Acre and return by train to the hotel in Haifa.
Regarding the timetables: At first I thought we could settle the airport issue in about six months, but today, eight months after the establishment of the new municipality, the issue is still unclear. The airport is now being clarified in courts and we do not know when this issue will be closed.
2. Joining forces with the authorities in the north
Because that the state does not care about Haifa, the north and the south of the country (One break - Two cities) We are in the process of negotiating and forming interests with the authorities in the north, in order to formulate joint routes, sale of joint packages and more. We started with meetings with most of the tourism associations in the north. We build a network of connections. There is already interest throughout the north. We have not yet created a forum that formulates work plans on this issue.
For example: the tourism association in Haifa will sell tours in Caesarea, Nazareth, Kfar Nahum, Acre, Beit Shean and more.. when the cooperation with the tourism associations of these important authorities is settled.
All this provided there is a field. We are currently not harnessing them to fight for an airport, but are consolidating the potential of northern tourism.
3. Treatment of the new urban tourism routes
We set up a municipal team, with the participation of the operations manager and Efatah (an association for the development of Haifa tourism). First we want to clean up the areas, take care of lighting and accessible transportation (the designated roads). We passed a resolution in the council that grants property tax relief in some of these areas - especially in the areas of the stairs, where we believe as areas with recreation and travel potential.
We have people in our team who are project managers. One of his roles is to create connections between the municipal assemblies, the other is to create relationships with the authorities and the work is starting to progress in a good direction.
4. The sinking of the train
In the struggle we did seven years ago, we were promised that they would solve the sedimentation problem. Currently Subtal 65 (National Infrastructure Plan 65) is handling the doubling of the track from the south only up to the Carmel beach, while the Haifa area is currently not planned, until planning for the Haifa section is settled.
At the moment there is no approved plan for sinking or tunneling the track in the Haifa section, but a team has been established by the National Infrastructure Commission, which deals with a plan for sinking or tunneling within the boundaries of the city of Haifa. The city engineer Ariel Waterman, Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem sits on this team And I am very involved in what we do in this team, because that is where (in the fight against the sinking) we started our common path and we see great importance in the sinking of the train within the borders of the city of Haifa. The team should submit its conclusions to LuTL around mid-2020.
5. Opening of the urban sea front - They promised us - Haifa Barcelona
Warehouse 15 is already open today and the entrance is through the bridge of Gate 5 (Hasmona station). Our plan is for the port to open the historic administration building, located a few meters northeast of the passenger terminal.
Level A' - Warehouse 15 will be operated in collaboration with the port at public events. We have a great cooperation with Haifa Port today and we have joint plans.
stage B' - We intend to operate warehouses 8, 9, (Haifa residents know the warehouses with the white roof: Nemel = 8, Haifa = 9). At the moment it is not possible to publish the plan of the municipality of Haifa regarding these warehouses. In the picture - Warehouse 9
Step C - You opened the sea front, the area that continues Sderot Bin Gurion
6. The "Harbor Lights" project which was canceled or postponed • "big miss"
The previous municipal administration announced a project of a lighting display that will be operated at night from the Haifa port and will be a tourist attraction that can be seen from anywhere on the northern Carmel.
The Ministry of Tourism liked the project and wanted to promote and invest equally with the Haifa Municipality. The cost of establishing the "Harbor Lights" is about 20 million NIS. The Ministry of Tourism wanted to invest equally with the Haifa Municipality. 10 million The Ministry of Tourism and the municipality will invest 10 million NIS.
When I took office, the issue came up and we immediately recognized that in fact no budget allocation had been made for the "Harbor Lights" project, meaning that the Haifa municipality had no ability to invest the money (the project was planned by the previous municipality).
Another difficulty was discovered, unfortunately, when there was a suspicion of irregularities in the decision-making process and budgeting of the project, so we had to stop until the matter was clarified (a legal decision). The Ministry of Tourism was very disappointed with the situation and took a step back. They also went out with it to the media and it was published. We informed the Ministry of Tourism that we are interested in this project and that we will try to raise the money for 2020. We hope to cooperate with the next minister, in the next administration.
7. The casino building that stands desolate in the heart of Bat Galim Promenade
We plan to keep it. It is not supposed to be a hotel, although in the end, that may be what will happen. Haifa University is interested in promoting marine science studies there. We will assist, according to the decision of the building owners. There is a process we have in place with the building's owners and we hope to succeed in it.
8. Sami Ofer Stadium - Guaranteed international appearances
At the moment, the stadium is creating a huge deficit in the current budget, when the public is forced to finance 7 million NIS per year [!]. We are interested in reaching a budget balance and stopping this huge loss of funds, which is currently burdening the municipal budget. The way we will act is to populate the commercial areas that are standing empty there and bring in private entrepreneurs to operate these areas.
Maccabi Haifa is interested in establishing a museum there on an area of about 1,000 meters. We will assist them in this and hope they will promote it.
We are currently promoting various projects designed to breathe life into the stadium even on weekdays (and not just once a week - fortnightly, when a football match is taking place) We started with the initiative of an international chess competition.
There is now a production of "The Peace Game", which will take place soon.
bring the the peace game on 29/10/19. Ronaldinho is already advertising this game on his Facebook page and advertising Haifa to the world. Regarding the budgetary exposure, we are exposed in the contract to a loss of up to NIS 100. We can also make a profit. It depends on the number of viewers. residents) against financial loss.
8. Encouraging the establishment of hotels - level 3 stars
We are interested in granting business licenses to entrepreneurs who will take old buildings in the city and turn them into hotels. It is similar to some projects that have already been carried out here, for example, a loud hotel and others.
We at the Hai Pe system wish success to Nachshon Tzuk in his journey to breathe life into tourism in Haifa and assure our readers that we will continue to closely monitor the execution of the plan
In conclusion:
First I sought to understand the existing situation, as it is seen through Nachshon's eyes. In the second part of the interview, I sought to understand what the goals of the Haifa municipality are regarding foreign and domestic tourism and what is the importance of an international airport to achieve these goals. In the third part we talked about the work plans that are taking place these days in order to achieve the tourism goals. I have every hope that the program will be successful and the city of Haifa will be on the world tourism map
Deep interview, cheers!
The right man in the right place!
Nachshon is modest and honest
Well done Nachshon.
I wish you success
let it be!