Israel’s tourism ministry decided to inject 14-million new Israeli shekels (three million dollars) into tourism development in the Golan Heights, occupied since 1967. Government investment in Golan tourism projects averaged five million NIS annually since 1998.
The northern mountainous region was captured from Syria in 1967 war and annexed by Israel in 1981. Over 1,000 rooms are currently available in the Golan, with tourism attractions such as springs, a ski resort, nature reserves and archeological sites drawing over two million Israeli and foreign visitors annually.
The tourism sector which once used to earn Israel an annual income of four billion dollars—constituting nearly 10 percent of the Jewish state’s economy—has more than halved by the escalating violence in the region since the outbreak of the latest Palestinian uprising in September 2000. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
