Finding a bit more time now, so hope to post some tour updates and more news stories soon. But just a quick summary for now. Tours that I’ve taken but not yet written about: Ein Gedi, southern Dead Sea area (Mt. Sodom), Modiin vicinity (Tel Gezer and stuff related to the Maccabees) and Sharon/southern Carmel region (Apollonia, Dor and Atlit).
And some of the class subjects I may want to discuss here: Geography and Geology of Israel (and how they relate to each other) and fauna. But first…
More good news about the Israeli tourism industry. I previously discussed how despite last year’s drop in tourists following the prior year, the numbers actually improved steadily over the course of the year. Well, that trend seems to be continuing.
January saw a massive 62% jump from the prior January, which is probably attributable in large measure to Operation Cast Lead a year ago. So that is not extremely impressive. What is somewhat more impressive is that the 212,000 tourists who came to Israel in January 2010 was a record amount for that month.
The above link also mentions the International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM), taking place yesterday and today in Tel Aviv. I’ll be there later today, followed by the bi-annual Israwinexpo in the afternoon/evening. They are in different sections of the same convention center, so should be easy for me to hit both. And since culinary and wine tourism is a niche that I hope to include in my repertoire of future tours, they are both relevant for me.
Look for reports soon!