Tourism Ministry Promoting Destinations in Yehuda and Shomron

The Tourism Ministry is seeking to increase tourism in Yehudah and Shomron – and is awarding companies that build hotels in the region funding of up to 20% of the cost of projects. Tenders will be issued in the near future for specific projects, the Ministry said.

A report in Yisrael Hayom said that while the decision to offer the funding was made by the government in 2016, it was a meeting at the beginning of the year between Yesha Council officials and heads of town councils that prompted the impetus to move forward with the plan. There is a great demand for bed and breakfasts in Yehudah and Shomron, and a chronic shortage of places to stay, the local authority heads told the Council. The Council discussed the matter with the Ministry, which decided to move ahead with the program.

Yesha Council chairman Chananel Dorani said that he “thanks Tourism Minister Yariv Levin for his important work in the area of tourism in Yehudah and Shomron and in the Jordan Valley. The establishment of hotels and guest houses in the region is important, and further proves our commitment to our roots. It also brings closer Israeli sovereignty over these areas.” Levin said that “the grants are another step in solving the problem of the shortage of hotel rooms in Israel, and it will also strengthen our settlement of the region.”