South ahoy! Passover travelers out in force
Good weather brings people out to national parks, nature reserves throughout the country for walking, bicycling, horse riding – or just barbeques
Even before the Pesach week visitors flooded the national parks and nature reserves, hundreds of Israelis chose to celebrate the seder in the lap of nature in the south of the country.
On Tuesday, thousands descended on the parks in the south, and some 100,000 visitors are expected to head south during the week. The north, meanwhile, has also seen plenty of visitors as the weather turned fine.
"Tourists are starting to come to the south," Sas Fialko of the Nature and Parks Authority said to Ynet. "Even before the seder night, many groups arrived in the area, including at the Ramon crater and Masada… Thousands of people will come to the open areas and we're preparing for those numbers."
Perhaps surprisingly, it seems that recent increases in rocket fire from the Gaza Strip onto the western Negev region has not caused security concerns.
"Most guesthouses in the Eshkol regional council area are full," says Livnat Ginzberg, tourism coordinator in the northern Negev. "We are inundated with calls and expect thousands of visitors."
The northern Negev is awash with visitors of all kinds, camping and picnicking, admiring the wheat fields and bicycling along the trails, or enjoying barbeques in the Lahav forest, she said.
The north of the country is also popular, with visitors enjoying the spring sun on the banks of the Jordan, around the Galilee hills and on the Golan Heights, as well as in the towns along the northern border, where guesthouse and hotel occupancy rates are over 90%.
"Religious families booked rooms in glatt kosher guesthouses months in advance, and occupancy is near 100%," says Shefi Mor, tourism director at Kibbutz Merom Golan.
Hundreds came Tuesday to the same area in the Golan to look over Syria. ATVs were in great demand, as well as bicycle tours and horse riding, while many flocked to the shores of the Sea of Galilee equipped with tents.
"Many have already arrived, maybe because of the heat wave, and we are expected very high occupancy rates," said Meir Ben Abu of Kibbutz Ein Gev, situated on the eastern shore of the lake.
Others headed up to Rosh Hanikra on the Lebanese border, or down the Jordan River on rafts.
Hagai Einav also contributed to this report
