Jerusalem, 20 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Minister of Tourism Award for Promoting Sustainable Tourism Projects in Israel for 2025 was awarded for the first time. The winners were Kibbutz Lotan in the southern Arava and Havat Rum in the Galilee
Kibbutz Lotan presented to the committee a unique tourism model based on natural construction and the use of soil as a raw material.
The complex offers a creative ecology visitor center, mud guest rooms, an ecological kitchen, and other ecological tourism facilities for guests, alongside vegetable gardens and organic crops.
Lotan is a space for tourists seeking peace, wilderness, and a deep connection to nature and the community.
Rum Farm on Mount Kamon offers a “man-nature-community” experience through special accommodations in lightweight construction and “field-to-plate” cuisine. In addition, the site operates a resilience and rehabilitation program for those dealing with post-traumatic stress from the war, and solar energy, water recycling, and construction from recycled materials are also used.
Both projects demonstrate how tourism can become a significant tool in social rehabilitation and environmental protection, and are an inspiration for the continued development of sustainable tourism in Israel.
The winning projects will be presented at the Ministry of Tourism pavilion at the major international tourism fair, ITB in Berlin, to be held in March 2026, and will receive wide exposure worldwide