The city of Ashdod, located on the shores of the Mediterranean, is a city with no less tourist potential than Tel Aviv and Eilat. With a strip of coastline that is considered one of the most beautiful culinary restaurants in the country and fine shopping centers, Ashdod is supposed to be one of the most visited cities in the country, something that has not really happened so far. The Ashdod Municipality Tourism Company has decided to bring Ashdod at all costs to the forefront of the tourism stage it deserves and is building innovative projects that are supposed to bring the tourists to Ashdod. Hofit CEO Ofer Deri (49) came to the company 6 years ago and made a series of moves that changed its face from end to end. In a conversation with him, he explains in detail about the projects, most of which are already under construction Deri elaborates on the tourism content offered by the city of Ashdod and is sure that very soon Ashdod will be one of the most visited cities in the country.
Hotels.
“The authority invests tens of millions in public infrastructure, but as long as Ashdod hotels are not built here, there will never be a tourist city.” The city of Ashdod currently has about 440 hotel rooms with an annual occupancy of 80%. The goal is to bring Ashdod to 2,000 hotel rooms in the next decade, which will increase the supply and even lower prices. Between 10 and 11 new hotels will soon be built in Ashdod, such as the Prima Hotel on Lido Beach, which will have 200 rooms, and hotels will be built south of Kalma Restaurant and Fortress Beach, where the hotel has not been established to date due to failed previous economic development. . The role of the municipal company is to open barriers for entrepreneurs who have difficulty in bureaucratic procedures with the Ministry of Tourism and the municipality and expedite the procedures for them and thus bring about a significant increase in the number of tourists in the city. The value of more hotels in the city is very high, no tourist will come to the city with bad infrastructure, also it is about hundreds of new jobs that will be created as a result of the construction of the hotels. If until today Ashdod was defined as an industrial city, now the goal is to define it as a tourist and industrial city, it is a process that requires a lot of money and this is also the reason why developers give a combination of hotel construction with residential buildings. Everything to make the developer want to open a hotel in Ashdod. According to Deri, the more hotels there are in Ashdod, the higher the demand, “If you open one restaurant on the street, there is a high chance that it will not succeed, if you open several restaurants as we see in Martin Buber, there is a high chance that they will all work. “We need accountants, for example, they need 1,000 rooms, so increasing the supply will also increase the demand for both tourists and large entities to come to Ashdod.”
Tourist content in the city.
The tourist content in Ashdod is huge, in Ashdod there are heritage tours, history tours and culinary tours which the average citizen does not always know about. Dozens of such trips go out a month to tourists who come to the city and enjoy the best that Ashdod has to offer. The tourism company works on this level with travel agents and brings tourists to Ashdod where it presents them with exhibitions and takes them to shopping centers, a sound and light show at the fortress and the lights project located from the municipality building to Ashdod Yam Park. At Hofit, they undertook not only to bring tourists who sat on their feet, but to provide them with tourist content that would keep them busy for 3 and 4 days in the city. For tourists who come, Hofit puts up free shuttles to the city’s shopping centers, where they buy things and pour money into the city’s business owners. Hofit also holds the ‘Peoples and Tastes’ festival every year, which is attended by people from all over the country, and this year it also won a ‘Call for a Call’ to run the ‘Creme de la Creme’ festival, which is the complementary festival of ‘Peoples and Flavors’ and offers desserts and ice creams. The purpose of the festivals is to reveal all the culinary offerings in the city of Ashdod at 2 festivals to which people from all over the country flock. The ‘Peoples and Tastes’ festival will take place on May 18 and 19 (Lag B’Omer) while the ‘Creme de la Crème’ festival will most likely take place in early July. Another property of the tourism company is the Challenges Park, which has a river cruise as well as lots of attractions for children. Hofit also markets the private businesses, including water sports in the marina and the like.
The water park.
Between the estuary and the ORT school, a water park is to be built soon, which already has permits and work plans, and is now waiting to receive approval from the Ministry of the Interior in the coming weeks to issue a BOT tender. A BOT tender is a tender in which the winner establishes the park, operates it and 25 years later returns it to the local authority. The park will include water facilities, an adventure park and a motor park. The construction of the park is expected to cost about NIS 70 million and it will be spread over about 40 dunams, according to expectations, from the moment the Ministry of the Interior approves it, within about 3 years the park will be established and usable for activity. Near the park they will set up a 450-seat parking beach that will be used by the park islanders as well as the people who come to Martin Buber where there is a severe shortage of parking today. Adjacent to the parking lot will be a caravan park of 30 caravans with underground infrastructure needed for caravans.
Beaches
On the beaches themselves, Hofit along with the Coastal Division and the Coast Guard have already started replacing the old lifeguard booths to make them more branded. In addition, a pilot of parasols and sunbeds for NIS 2, inspired by ‘Hofix’, will be operated on some beaches, where the mayor decided to sell all the products at Hofix beaches for NIS 2 for Ashdod residents and NIS 10 for foreign residents.
Promenade and Ferris wheel.
The promenade that is basically the face of the coastal strip is supposed to undergo massive development from north to south, and be right on the beach. Also from the West Hotel to Oranim Beach, a Ferris wheel, carousel and food trucks will be set up for the general public. The Ferris wheel already has a winner who will activate it and it should start working on the completion of the infrastructure works in about two years. Wednesday’s sea market will be relocated south and thus it will be possible to establish the entire project in question. In addition, a promenade will be built that will connect Oranim Beach to Arches Beach, which does not exist today.
Arches Beach.
All the arched structure that is neglected today should be covered with concrete to the west as early as next year and give the place a beautiful and aesthetic look, as well as the owners of the restaurants flowing to the beach will have to develop all their land to merge with urban development. Further along the Arches Beach in the northern pier that merges with the marina, a promenade open to the public is to be built right on the pier, with lighting, shading and stands for food trucks. Today the place is locked with chains and the expectation is that within a year and a half from today this promenade will be built and will be open to the public.
The marina.
25 years ago, Ashtrom established the marina in a BOT tender and the place was neglected and fortified because it was in private hands. In about a year, the BOT period will end and the area will return to Rami (Israel Land Authority) and the municipality hopes that they will transfer the concession to operate the marina into their hands. To the lake. All of these works are under the supervision of HAFA and are expected to be completed by 2022, when the lake will open to the public, with all fences in the marina supposed to go down except fences for boats themselves. Which will greatly upgrade the area.
Fortress Beach.
To get to the fort today visitors have to move for a clearly unregulated gravel path. Within half a year from today, Hofit intends to arrange 150 parking spaces at the site, when a tender for this has already been aired. Phase B of the ecological park is also scheduled to start work immediately after Passover and the citadel area will receive the arrangement it needs within half of the day.
At the end of the project before us, Deri would like to thank the city management without whom all this would not have happened. “I thank the mayor, Dr. Yehiel Lasri, for the vision, guidelines and budgets for the various projects. To Deputy Mayor Shimon Katzenelson for pushing and resolving barriers. “To the company’s chairman Gershon Feldman and, of course, to the dedicated employees who work day and night to develop the city in Ashdod.”
Mayor Dr. Yehiel Lasri: “There is no doubt that the continued development of Ashdod as a leading tourist city is a strategic goal we have set for ourselves over the years, and it is exciting to see how plans that have been on paper, begin to unravel.
Shimon Katzenelson Deputy Mayor: “We are happy to see the great interest the city is creating in the tourism aspects. There is a lot of competition for the right to build new hotels in the city, the old Challenge Park is going to get a serious facelift in a new location, and will also become a water park, and many other new developments.”
Gershon Feldman Chairman of the Board: “Welcoming the significant progress in promoting tourism in the city, we place the city on the national tourism map and the potential that our city has is an economic, social and image asset to Ashdod.”