Israel promotes desert tourism

MITZPE RAMON, Israel — The Middle East country has already been credited with making the desert bloom. Now it hopes to make it boom — with tourists.

Seeking to bolster tourism to its vast and largely undeveloped Negev desert region, Israel is promoting luxury camping trips, Bedouin hospitality and challenging outdoor activities like dune surfing.

In addition, a new international airport is rising from the desert floor 18 kilometers from the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat and the neighboring Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Tourism in Israel is big business, bringing in $5.8 billion in 2017.

Arrivals to the country of about 8 million citizens hit a record 3.6 million last year, the Israeli Tourism Ministry said.

The United States, Russia, France, Germany and Britain accounted for most of the visitors.

The ministry says that it now seeks to grow the Negev’s share of total Israeli tourist revenue from the present 5 percent to 20 percent within two to three years.

people last year visited Israel, a country of only 8 million citizens. Most of them were from the United States and Europe.

It also aims to increase the number of Negev hotel rooms from 2,000 to about 5,000 within six to seven years.

Israel is marketing the desert as a unique destination on Europe’s doorstep.

“When it’s very cold in Europe, let’s say in December, January and February, we have very mild temperatures in the Negev,” the Tourism Ministry’s Uri Sharon told journalists on a tour of the sparsely populated region.

Activities include hiking, biking, rock climbing, abseiling and dune surfing — akin to snowboarding on sand.

The Negev is also home to a geological marvel: the Ramon Crater, the world’s largest erosion crater.

Salaam El Wadj has opened up the encampment where he lives with his wife, children and goats to visitors, who can stay in one of the tents and listen to his stories of Bedouin life.

Hosting tourists, said, enables him to his heritage.

“They don’t want to just sleep in a Bedouin camp but also to learn,” he said.

Hikers can walk along part of the Negev Highland Trail, covering about 12 km a day between Bedouin camps while their luggage is transported by vehicle.

Near Wadj’s site, Hannah and Eyal Izrael own the Carmey Avdat winery in the area where Nabatean farmers cultivated vines 2,000 years ago.

Visitors can help run the production line and bottle, cork and label their choice of wine personally.

“All the time there are tourists from all over the world coming to the Israeli desert to explore, trek, taste our wine, go to other farms to taste goat cheese,” Eyal said.

“The Negev is a very safe and accessible desert and it’s warm here.” he preserve