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Tuesday, June 24, 1997

Staying Afloat

(December 27) While the rest of the country suffers a severe tourist drought, the Dead Sea's unique properties have enabled it to remain a lively draw for foreign visitors.

'It had taken seven wearying hours that February day in 1959 to drive over bumpy or nonexistent roads from Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem to this desolate spot, and we felt we had arrived on the moon....Wooden huts were set up....There was no paved road, no postal service, no telephone, and no radio reception. An unreliable and noisy generator provided electricity ­ sometimes. In this pioneering atmosphere, patients, doctor, nurse, cook and bottle-washer gathered round each night to tell jokes or stories and sing songs..."

­ Prof. Zvi Even-Paz, Hebrew University-Hadassah Faculty of Medicine

"We hope to attract the richest people in Europe ­ people who want to spoil themselves in a luxurious setting.

­ Yuval Shahaf, Tamar Regional Council

Less than 40 years separate the doctor's memory from the regional planner's vision of the Dead Sea.

Anyone who has spent a night there recently would find it hard to picture the spartan camp described by Even-Paz, one of the first Israeli physicians to study the lake's medicinal effects. The wooden huts have long been replaced by $200-a-night air-conditioned rooms, and the campfire-style sing-alongs have given way to marble-floored piano bars.

Now the Dead Sea is braced for another facelift. It won't be as dramatic as the one that transformed the region from makeshift camp to tourist attraction, but it will be a dizzying change in its own right. Within the next two years, the number of rooms on the southern segment of the lake ­ where most hotels are concentrated ­ will nearly double to 3,200 rooms once five additional hotels are constructed. By 1998, Ein Bokek alone, will have 2,800 rooms compared to just 1,100 a few months ago. A new public solarium is also being built, and the area ­ which has until now relied on local spring water ­ is to be connected to the National Water Carrier. And if regional planners have their way, the Dead Sea will be marketed as a winter playground for Europe's rich and famous.

The ambitious plans for expansion were drawn up long before the current slump in tourism ­ the worst one to affect the country since the Gulf war. "We're concerned," admits Yuval Shahaf, managing director of the Tamar Regional Council. "We hope this slump will be over by the time the new hotels are built."

But so far, the region has been spared the difficulties facing the rest of the country. While hotel officials in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Tiberias report plunging occupancy rates, Dead Sea officials tell a different story.

"In November, we already had 85 percent occupancy for December ­ and no room at all for weekend groups," says Shraga Kelson, public relations director of the Radisson Moriah Gardens Dead Sea Hotel at Ein Bokek.

"In general, hotels in the region have about the same occupancy rates now as they did a year ago," says Shahaf.

If the Dead Sea has not been hard hit, it's because of people like Frida Werner. When the Belgian pensioner informed her doctor that she'd be heading to Israel this winter, he was alarmed. He had just seen television reports of bloody clashes in the territories. "Isn't it dangerous in Israel?" he asked.

Stretched out on a lounge chair under a mid-November sun, Werner grins as she recalls the story. "You call this dangerous?" she laughs from her isolated sun-bathing spot along the Dead Sea shore. "I think I'd be in greater danger crossing the street in Brussels."

Over a period of 30 years, she has logged 24 visits ­ and has stayed at the same Dead Sea spa each time. She goes there once or twice a year, at her own expense, to spend two weeks soaking in hot mineral pools and having mud packs applied all over her body. It's called balneotherapy and it's the only way she finds relief from the pain of rheumatism.

"I would never cancel my trip to the Dead Sea. Two weeks here and I'm fine for at least six months. When I was younger, the effect lasted a full year," says Werner, who's in her sixties. "Whenever I show up, the spa staff embrace me like family. It's a second home."

There are about 10,000 tourists like Werner who come to the Dead Sea every year to soothe their aches and pains. In a country that attracts 1.5 million to 2.5 million tourists a year, that may not sound like much. But when you take into account that these visitors stay an average of 28 days, and that many return more than 20 times in a lifetime, it adds up.

Such "regulars" account for about one third of the total number of bednights in Dead Sea hotels, according to Shahaf. "Twenty percent of the guests make up 65 percent of the tourism at our hotel," adds Kelson. "These veteran tourists don't care about the news. As far as they're concerned, the Dead Sea is 400 meters below the news; it's another reality."

What is very real for these visitors is the relief they experience. Vera Klett, a 28-year-old occupational therapist from Bavaria, Germany, does not look like someone with a debilitating skin condition. The attractive blond with a clear complexion is sipping a drink in the lobby of the hotel-spa where she has been staying for nearly four weeks.

"When I came here my skin was ripped open from head to toe," she says. "My eyelids were so badly affected that I couldn't see properly ­ and I was unable to drive a car."

Klett was born with neurodermititis, a skin condition that causes terrible itchiness. Scratching results in lesions which in turn itch more. In Germany, Klett was treated in a solarium with sun lamps, and given the powerful drug cortisone. When neither proved effective, her health fund agreed to send her to the Dead Sea for four weeks' treatment, which consisted of several hours a day of direct sun exposure and twice-daily baths in the Dead Sea ­ all under medical supervision.

"I am a different person," she says matter-of-factly.

It's the second consecutive year that Klett has been treated at the Dead Sea. Last year, she took a day trip to Jerusalem during her stay. A few months later she heard on the news that the bus she had ridden ­ the Number 18 ­ had been blown up by a suicide bomber. "I felt sick," recalls Klett. "Such sadness in my throat."

But she never considered canceling her return trip. On the contrary, she pleaded with budget-conscious health-fund officials to subsidize her visit. "I was so desperate I cried in front of them," she says.

Notes Shahaf: "Tourists who travel for leisure may postpone a visit to Israel. But those who come for health reasons are unlikely to put off a trip, especially when it's subsidized by their health fund."

It is ­ and always has been ­ the Dead Sea's healing powers that distinguish it from other places. Roman soldiers would transport samples of water to Rome for domestic use. During the Mandate, the British brought officers from all over the empire to the Dead Sea for rest and recuperation, flying them right onto the surface of the lake by seaplane.

However, scientific documentation of the Dead Sea's medicinal properties began only in 1959, when a Hadassah team carried out clinical trials on the desolate banks of the shore. Patients suffering from three types of skin disease ­ psoriasis, various types of eczema and fungal diseases ­ were selected for the study.

The trials showed a marked and beneficial effect on psoriasis and an improvement in arthritic conditions. Following the Six Day War, the region was transformed from hinterland to tourist attraction, with the addition of roads, the first hotel (Galei Zohar) and the first medical clinic. The Danish Health Service sent patients with severe cases of psoriasis for a four-week all-expense-paid trial. Recently, those first patients were invited back for a return visit to mark the 25th anniversary of Dead Sea health tourism.

The outstanding success of that initial experiment prompted Danish, German and other European health funds to begin subsidizing treatment at the Dead Sea for those suffering from psoriasis and other skin conditions. The mineral-rich hot springs and heated pools of Dead Sea water help reduce the pain and inflammation caused by various joint diseases, such as rheumatism and arthritis. And the bromine-rich water and atmosphere has a relaxing effect on healthy and sick alike.

If there is a broad understanding of the Dead Sea's palliative properties, the details are a different matter. In an effort to rectify this, a medical research body, under the auspices of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Health, was established in 1993. Its goal: to commission and conduct studies in Dead Sea health therapy.

Even without such studies, the Dead Sea's reputation has spread far and wide, bringing hopeful visitors from a surprising variety of places. Recently, a Russian and a Korean were spotted sitting together on the beach outside a Dead Sea spa. They couldn't exchange a word, but shared some things more important than language ­ namely, a skin condition and a daily card game.

Not all foreign visitors come to the Dead Sea to heal.

"We just completed a hectic WIZO tour and wanted a place to unwind for a few days," says Adrienne Moss of Thorpe Bay, England. "This is so much more peaceful than Eilat or Tiberias," adds her husband Brian.

Until recently, Israelis made up the majority of visitors to the Dead Sea. But in 1995, foreign tourists outnumbered locals for the first time.

At the Lot Hotel, there are signs in Russian. "It's not for immigrants," explains manager Chaim Karni, "but for a group of 27 visiting Russian tour operators."

Julia Nikolacva, of Tennis Sport, a Moscow-based travel agency, was one of them. She was particularly impressed by the prospect of safe sun-bathing. She also noted that her skin felt very smooth following a dip in the Dead Sea. "It's a great place for women who want to look under 30," pronounced the 33-year-old redhead.

Shahaf just wound up a tour for Slovakian travel agents. "The prices are a bit too steep for them," he concluded. Shahaf has also hosted visiting groups of Czechs, Hungarians and Poles. But he has his sights set on what he sees as the most promising market: the wealthiest 10 percent of Europeans ­ what he likes to call "the healthy, rich and beautiful."

"Several of the new hotels and a few of the existing ones offer deluxe accommodation with world-class spas," says Shahaf. "The idea is to market these as beauty and health treatment centers where wealthy Europeans can spend a week spoiling themselves in luxurious surroundings. If just 1 percent of the Euorpean elite visit once in a lifetime, it will generate tremendous income."

Toward that end, the Tamar Regional Council and local hotels are planning a $5.6 million marketing campaign directed mainly at Italy and Germany.

Shraga Kelson doesn't dismiss the idea, but sees more promise in expanding health tourism. "Healing is the backbone of Dead Sea tourism," he maintains. "If one out of every 1,000 Americans with psoriasis came here, it would mean 6,000 new visitors a year and nearly double the total number of bed-nights."

Officials at the Dead Sea don't know where the additional tourists will come from, and whether they will be enough to fill the 1,400 new hotel rooms now under construction. But while most of the country's tourism sector is in a rut, the mood in Ein Bokek is one of cautious optimism. At the lowest point on earth, there are still high hopes for tourism. If any place can stay afloat, they believe, it's the Dead Sea.

Tuesday, April 8, 1997

Eli Lilly to Open Local Subsidiary

TEL AVIV (April 8) -- Eli Lilly & Co., the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company, announced yesterday it has decided to launch a local subsidiary.

The Tel Aviv office, which is part of the company's strategy to further penetrate the Israeli market, will conduct clinical trials, as well as market and sell Eli Lilly's products.

Eli Lilly did not disclose the size of the investment it made in establishing a local branch.

The company, which is among the world's top-10 leading drugmakers, produces antibiotics, insulin, growth hormones, anti-ulcer agents and cancer drugs. One of its more famous products is psychiatric medication Prozac.

With 30,000 employees worldwide, the company also manufactures sedatives, vitamins, cardiovascular therapy medications, feed additives and other goods for livestock and poultry.

Eli Lilly's holdings include medical communications networks developer Integrated Medical Systems and medical instruments maker IVAC.

Lilly became the first company to sell a biotechnology product, introducing Humulin, a human insulin treatment, in 1982. Four years later, the company began selling one of the most popular antidepressants, Prozac.

Eli Lilly has annual turnover of $7 billion and sells its products in more than 120 countries.