Christian Pilgrims Keeping Tourism Afloat in Israel's Lake Kinneret Region
"Approximately 2.8 million pilgrims have arrived in Israel since the beginning of the year, significantly more than the 2.5 million predicted to arrive over the course of the year."
(Israel)—Haaretz reports that Christian pilgrims have been keeping tourism afloat in the vicinity of Lake Kinneret during the Sukkot holiday.
According to the report, Tourism Ministry statistics reveal that around 70,000 Christian pilgrims arrived this year to Kibbutz Ein Gev—1,000 arriving at Ein Gev on Saturday alone, most of them from France—and approximately 2.8 million pilgrims have arrived in Israel since the beginning of the year, significantly more than the 2.5 million predicted to arrive over the course of the year. (Photo: JAFI.org.il)
Gideon Hod, the kibbutz's tourism director, said, "The pilgrims certainly coordinated their arrival in Israel with the state's 60th anniversary celebrations. The stable security situation also helped, unlike in 2006, when tourism was thwarted by the Second Lebanon War. Next year we expect another rise, as long as there aren't security tensions in the region and the borders remain quiet."
