http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127987by Maayana Miskin
(IsraelNN.com) Several tourist sites in Judea and Samaria have boasted thousands of visitors each day during the intermediate days of Sukkot, Yesha Council officials noted Thursday. Tourists from Israel and around the world have flooded sites such as Tel Shilo, Susia, Har Kabir and Sebastia, they said.
Members of the recently established Judea and Samaria Public Relations Council expressed satisfaction with the high number of visitors and said they were committed to increasing the number of tourists in the coming years. “In another three or four years we plan to reach a volume of tens and hundreds of thousands of visitors each year,” said council head Yakir Segev.
Operators of tourist sites in Susia, Har Kabir and elsewhere said the number of tourists who visited on Thursday was the highest since the outbreak of the wave of Arab violence known as the Second Intifada in 2000. In Samaria, tour guides said the number of visitors was even higher than it had been prior to the year 2000. Approximately 10,000 Israelis, religious and secular, took part in organized tours throughout Samaria on Thursday.
Tours will continue on Friday and Sunday, and are expected to draw thousands more visitors. Samaria has much to offer Israeli tourists, local officials said: a beautiful view, clean air, Jewish history, proximity to major Israeli cities, warm hospitality and attractions. “We invite the entire people of Israel to come see with their own eyes and get connected,” they said.
The Judea and Samaria Public Relations Council began its work approximately two weeks ago with the opening of an Internet site promoting tourism in Judea and Samaria and hundreds of large billboards saying, “Judea and Samaria—the Story of Every Jew.” In addition, the council plans to take part in panel discussions and to create additional tourist sites in Judea and Samaria.