Israel’s government has approved a new NIS 27 million plan aimed at turning Judea & Samaria from a mostly day-trip destination into a place where visitors can stay overnight, spend locally, and build longer trips around its biblical, historical and natural sites. The plan, led by Tourism Minister Haim Katz, targets one of the region’s biggest tourism gaps: hotel capacity.

Under the decision, NIS 7 million from the Tourism Ministry’s ongoing budget will be spread through 2030 for statutory planning, mapping, land reserves and steps that make plots marketable for hotel development. Another NIS 20 million from the ministry’s development budget will go toward grants for establishing, converting or expanding hotels and lodging facilities, with support reaching up to 28% of an approved investment plan.

Judea & Samaria already draws Jewish and Christian visitors to places such as Hebron, Gush Etzion, Binyamin and Mount Hebron, but the lack of rooms has kept much of the area locked into short visits and bus-tour stops. Tourism officials previously said the region has less than 2% of Israel’s hotel rooms despite its concentration of heritage, religious and nature sites.

The Tourism Ministry says roughly NIS 115 million has been invested in tourism infrastructure in the area over the past decade, compared with more than NIS 2 billion elsewhere in Israel. Ynet also noted that the move follows a separate government decision in May approving about NIS 50 million for public tourism infrastructure in Judea & Samaria.

Katz called the region’s tourism potential “enormous,” saying the plan will remove barriers, give investors more certainty and lay the groundwork for more lodging rooms. Critics abroad will predictably treat the move as political. Israel is framing it as development: more hotels, more jobs, more access to the heartland of Jewish history, and a clear signal that Judea & Samaria is not just a stop on the map, but a destination.