Eurovision 2019 will take place in May in Tel Aviv, and it is going to be historic, exciting and … expensive.
The combination of the cost of living in Israel and the relatively high ticket prices make the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv especially expensive for European Eurovision fans who plan on arriving in the city. With one of the most expensive elements being accommodation – hotel prices are rising and the prices of Airbnb apartments are going wild.
But there are also exceptions – A new and proud tourism site, FUNLI, presents a unique offer – exclusive sale of 300 hotel rooms in the best hotels in Tel Aviv during the Eurovision week, at very competitive prices – 30 to 50 percent lower than market prices.
For example: 6 nights (13-19.5) at the Hotel Margosa in Jaffa, which priced at 1857€ on Booking.com, is offered on FUNLI for only 1560€ – almost 300€ cheaper. In addition, you can find rooms for Eurovision week in hotels that are no longer available on other sites, such as Herod’s Hotel Tel Aviv.
Behind the initiative are Etay and Tamar, a couple who work in Graiver, one of Israel's oldest tourism companies (since 1952), and Pita Marketing, a marketing firm which specializes in sectorial marketing.
"Like everyone else, we watched Eurovision about a year ago", explains Etay, "once Neta won, after we were done jumping and screaming in the living room, we started thinking about what we could do with that victory. We did not know which city would host the event, but since the tourism companies have the option to reserve rooms in advance, we decided to reserve rooms in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The moment we learned that the Eurovision will take place in Tel Aviv we released the rooms in Jerusalem, and so we were left with a considerable amount of several hundreds of hotel rooms in Tel Aviv during Eurovision Week.
In addition to the attractive prices, 20% of the site's profits will be donated to the LGBT community in Israel for the development of various community organizations and activists working to strengthen Pride tourism in Israel.
"We knew that the most natural partner for this move should be the gay community, because the Eurovision Song Contest is nevertheless an event whose heart is the members of the community", explains Imri Kalmann, CEO of Pita Marketing and former chairperson of the LGBT Association in Israel, “Therefore, we decided that 20% of the site's profits will be donated to organizations and individuals that will promote Pride tourism in Israel"
At the end of last week, as part of the promotion for the new venture, we launched a YouTube video by the dancer Sheine Heidi, who performed with Netta Barzili at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, and Tom Schneid. The video presents Tel Aviv and its special pace, attracting visitors from all over the world.
On FUNLI.ORG you will find unique offers for booking hotel rooms, guided tours, friendly attractions, party bracelets, recommendations for restaurants and more. The aim of the site's initiators is to become the main tourism agency for the LGBT community in Israel, and to provide a wide range of professional tourist services to its members and members of the LGBT community, as well as to tourists arriving in Israel for events, as well as to Israelis going abroad.
