Mentioning the Central Arava to most Israelis 25 years ago usually elicited blank looks or incorrect guesses regarding its location. But as more young settlers came to the Arava and realized the tourism possibilities inherent in such a unique and beautiful region, a grassroots tourism industry began to slowly emerge. When Partnership 2000 began supporting the Arava in 1995, this potential had already become clear, and one of the main goals of the Partnership's activities in the region was to "put the Arava on the map" by advertising and marketing the region.

Today the Arava is known throughout the country for its beautiful accommodations and tourist attractions, and this past year in particular has been a banner year for tourism. The Central Arava merged its tourism department with that of southern neighbor Hevel Eilot at the beginning of 2010 in order to create new and better tourist options, from the Central Arava's most northern settlement all the way down to Eilat.

The regions brainstormed together and came up with a consecutive series of events which would take advantage of the regions' combined assets and resources, rather than importing events which could be held equally as well in any other part of Israel, The events included the Arava Astronomy Festival which took advantage of the regions' clear skies, Yoga Arava, with participants performing yoga exercises outside in the beautiful Arava desert, and two bird-watching events which benefitted from the location of the region in the Syro-African rift, directly on the route of the twice yearly migration of birds from Europe to Africa.

The region was extremely grateful for the $60,000 sponsorship received from the Partnership, and hopes are high for 2011. Any of our Australian partners interested in receiving more information about touring the Arava are invited to write to the Tourism Dept's Information Center at tourism@arava.co.il