New Plan to Promote Tourism in Southern Israel

Jerusalem, 17 September, 2025 (TPS-IL) — A new tourism master plan for southern israel was promoted through a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and the Planning Directorate.

The plan deals with a wide variety of tourist uses, including hotels, tourist sites, accommodation on the premises, as well as recreation and leisure within the plan. The plan establishes uniform provisions in order to ensure clarity regarding the guidelines regarding the possibility of promoting tourism projects. In addition, the plan establishes up-to-date planning principles that allow flexibility in promoting plans for tourism projects and reduce the regulation applicable to the plan, while eliminating the need for additional changes to the master plan in the future.

The plan attempts to create a balance between encouraging tourism in the district, including in open areas, while making them accessible to the general public, on the one hand, and protecting the open areas in the district, on the other. Among other things, the plan sets guidelines for planning institutions on a wide variety of issues that must be examined regarding the sensitivity of the area, not harming the continuity of the open area, proximity to existing infrastructure, and more. Among other things, the plan encourages the establishment of small tourism projects, since these are largely based on local initiatives of the community living nearby.