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The city of Tiberius, also known by its Hebrew name of T’veria, is a city that used to be one of Israel’s most important tourist resort cites. I say used to be because the city has recently seen a significant decline in tourist business, once one of the mainstays of the city’s economy. After spending the weekend in this city of 42,000, perched on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, I began to wonder why this city cannot draw more visitors, both local and foreign, as another tourist city, Eilat seems to do. The city which used to be the number one local destination for honeymooners, and for family vacations, seems to have a difficult time keeping its major hotels and tourist attractions going.

Tiberius is one of Israel’s oldest cities, with a continuous habitation or more than 2,000 years. Founded by King Herod the Great in the century before the Common Era, Tiberius became popular with the Romans because of its mild climate and hot springs. For Jews, Tiberius is Israel’s fourth holist city, after Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed. The city was inhabited by Jews long after Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans in the 1st Century C.E. During the time of various Muslim occupiers, including both the Mamlukes and Ottoman Turks, the city became home for both Muslim and Jewish holy men, with one of the most famous Jewish educational teachers, Moses Maimonides, other wise known as “the Rambam”. For devout Christians the city has significance for them as well; as Jesus spent time in the area of the Sea of Galilee and recruited some of his Disciples from the local fishermen who “threw away their nets to become fishers of men”.

Modern Tiberius is not the tourist city it once was for certain. Though it does have frequent visitations by tour groups, especially Christians, Tiberius is no longer the vacation destination of choice by Israelis, especially honeymooners. Relaxation of government restrictions against foreign travel has resulted in many Israelis preferring to travel abroad instead of to local destinations like this one. Due to this reality, many Tiberius vacation results have either shut their doors or have drastically cut back their services.

In other words, places like Anatalya Turkey have surpassed Tiberius in getting the hard earned bucks of Israeli tourists. Although the Israel Ministry of Tourism is working with the Tiberius city council to improve the city’s tourism image, a lot more needs to be done to entice both Israelis and foreign visitors back to the city by the lake. And this might also include a major “face lift” of the City’s commercial and tourist districts.

Walking along the city lake front, I noticed that a number of traditional fish restaurants are no longer there. Many beach resorts which offered both budget vacations and family activities are also gone or mere shadows of their former selves. The city still has at least 4 five star hotels, but these are struggling to remain open, and only have sufficient guests on the weekends. Perhaps improved entertainment possibilities by both the Tiberius city fathers and the tourism ministry is needed to attract visitors back to this city, such as a theme park, more modern discotheques, and other activities. To avoid a substantial relocation by many commercial tourism concerns, the Tiberius city fathers have better start working on a plan of action right now, before the situation deteriorates even further.