The Efrat Local Council, in cooperation with the Etzion Regional Brigade, has successfully completed the first pilot program allowing organized tour groups to visit Solomon's Pools.
Until now, bringing groups into the site required complex coordination. However, following a government decision allocating 10 million shekels to make the site permanently accessible, a new framework has been introduced.
At the current stage, predetermined dates are being announced - currently once a week - allowing groups to enter with advance registration through travel agents, educational tour organizations, and tour guides. The ultimate goal is to open the site freely to the public every day.
Efrat Council head Dov Shefler explained: "For two years, we have worked in close cooperation with the military to bring groups into this important site, but that is not enough for it to become a genuine tourist attraction that realizes the enormous tourism potential of the water system that supplied Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. An event organized by the local council is nice and important, but that is not tourism. Our role as a local authority is to remove obstacles and allow the tourism market to do its job.
"Therefore, we recently coordinated with the Etzion Brigade Commander to publish dates, currently once a week, on which travel agents, educational tour organizations, and tour guides will be able to bring organized groups into the Solomon's Pools complex. This is only the first stage, with the ultimate goal of reaching a situation in which the site is freely open to visitors every day."
The council's tourism adviser, Hezki Betzalel, noted that two groups from educational institutions participated in the first tour, alongside a group of tourists from the US.
The largest group in the pilot was organized by the Harei Gofna educational institute in Neve Tzuf and was guided by Dr. Azriel Yechezkel, who researched the ancient water system as part of his doctoral studies.