Israel’s Tourism Ministry will invest 230 million ILS to fund 55 tourism projects, the ministry announced on Tuesday.

Tourism Minister Haim Katz, the Tourism Ministry has said that “Alongside the responsibility we took upon ourselves to address the needs of 130,000 evacuees, we have continued to plan for the ‘day after’ while establishing and upgrading infrastructure to improve the visitor and tourist experience”.

The Tourism Ministry will provide funding for various projects, including heritage centers, parks, biking trails and more. Additionally, the ministry said it would invest approximately 22 million ILS in tourism projects in the West Bank, including various construction and development projects in Gush Etzion, Beit El, and Mount Hebron.

“We have distributed the investment across the country”, said Director-General of the Tourism Ministry Dani Shahar, “The ministry evaluated the projects based on criteria such as their potential to attract visitors from Israel and overseas, proximity to existing or planned accommodations, alignment with ministry and government policies, the local authority’s ability to maintain the project, maintenance complexity, and diversification or enhancement of the tourism product”.

The Tourism Ministry said it had recently received about 98 applications from local authorities for funding proposals for new projects. In past months, the ministry reviewed 119 applications, representing a total requested investment of approximately 1.6 billion ILS.