The race against time to save the tourism capital of the North: "They asked if it's okay to walk here in a swimsuit"

Four years before 2030, Tiberias is already looking ahead to one of the largest religious tourism events that may visit the region. Mayor Yossi Nabaa says in a conversation with "Maariv" that the city has begun preparations for the possibility of a visit by the Pope as part of the events marking 2,000 years since the baptism of Jesus, and for a much larger wave of pilgrims expected to arrive in Israel and the North.

"I am currently dealing with the next two and a half years in anticipation of the Pope's visit, which is supposed to be in 2030," says Nabaa. "In 2030, if there are no wars and no such geopolitical crises, we expect that the North will need to prepare for hundreds of thousands and millions of pilgrim visitors. The state needs to prepare for this."

As of now, no official announcement from the Vatican confirming a visit by the Pope to Israel in 2030 has been published. However, preparations for the year itself have already begun at the government level: in July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a special working team in anticipation of the 2,000th anniversary of the baptism of Jesus and the expected arrival of millions of pilgrims to Israel.

Nabaa says that in Tiberias, they have already begun mapping the requirements. "I sat with the Ministry of Tourism. We are already starting to map all the needs we have. I have no doubt that immediately after the elections, we will need a government decision. The Pope's visit is the headline, but it is more than hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people who will arrive here during that year."

According to him, four years is not a long time when it comes to the scope of preparation required. "It's tomorrow morning. That is exactly the point. We are sleeping on the job. We are not prepared for such an event and we are not utilizing such events. It's not just the Ministry of Tourism, we need the Treasury here. The Treasury needs to understand the economic significance of this whole story."

"The city has regressed"

The grand vision of 2030 stands against a much less glamorous tourism reality in the present. Tiberias is the only city in Israel located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and for decades it was one of the symbols of local tourism. However, this status has been eroded. Nabaa does not deny this. When asked how a city sitting on one of Israel's greatest tourism assets did not become the thriving tourist city it could have been, he points a finger first and foremost at local politics.

"In the last 20 or 30 years, there has been no political stability here," he says. "Every time a mayor came for a term, started programs and didn't finish them. Then another mayor came. The city was left behind because of the political chaos that was in it." According to him, cities where there was long-term leadership enjoyed a clear advantage. "Look at cities that had political stability, where a mayor was for at least two or three terms, the city progressed. When there is continuity, it is possible to build long-term plans."

But politics is not the only reason. The world of tourism has also changed. Cheap flights took Israelis abroad, and hotels in Tiberias were based for years mainly on groups of Christian tourism. "The city was built mainly on pilgrim tourism, about 68 to 70 percent of its tourism," says Nabaa. According to him, the hotels got used to a model where pilgrim groups go out early in the morning for tours around the North and return in the evening. "It was convenient for them, and therefore they didn't develop the hotels to the level of the hotel industry in Eilat, with a vacation experience and the whole all-inclusive story."

And then came the coronavirus and the war. "The city has regressed," he says. Even today, according to him, the recovery is far from complete. "We still don't have bookings. We are waiting for bookings. Our hotels and our small businesses are built mainly on pilgrim tourism. Very few tourists from abroad are still arriving, very few."

Nabaa pins his hopes on entrepreneurial awakening around the Sea of Galilee. According to him, three hotels in Tiberias have already received permits and are expected to add a total of about a thousand rooms. In the entire Sea of Galilee area, according to him, there are additional hotels that are in the stages of construction and planning. "When you see the entrepreneurs both on the Sea of Galilee and in Tiberias, you understand that there is a very great belief in tourism," he says.

However, a hotel alone does not make a city a tourist destination. One of the prominent difficulties of Tiberias is what happens after the guest leaves the room: the city center does not currently offer a large variety of restaurants, bars, and nightlife. When Nabaa is asked why a tourist should stay in the city and not go to restaurants and entertainment venues in the area, he presents a regional concept. "Tourism must be regional tourism. My tourist who comes to sleep here will be once on the beach, once will go to Migdal, once will travel to Safed and return here. Thirty minutes of driving is nothing."

But from the point of view of business owners in Tiberias, a tourist who goes out to eat in Migdal or in the Galilee is a customer who did not spend their money in the city. Nabaa says that the municipality is trying to change that too. "We are now building a tourism administration, which among other things will also deal with bringing restaurants and hotels." According to him, additional restaurants are expected to open in new complexes, and the municipality is investing about 200 million shekels in the public space and promenades.

The tension between the municipality and businesses has recently surfaced in a protest around excess waste charges. Business owners claimed that after the years of the coronavirus and the war, precisely in a period when they are trying to recover, an additional burden is being placed on them. Nabaa rejects some of the claims, but the municipality announced that it would re-examine the issue and in the meantime would not take enforcement actions following the payment demand letters that were sent.

The troubles of the Lower City

The issue of parking and enforcement also arouses criticism. Business owners in the Lower City claim that a parking shortage and an abundance of tickets deter visitors. Nabaa claims that the main move in the field of parking was actually done at the request of the business owners. "They approached me and told me to do orange parking. We did a pilot and it worked very well," he says. Within the framework of the arrangement, it is possible to park for free for an hour near the businesses, but after that, the driver is required to vacate the place.

"If you come for two or three hours, park in the parking lots. You can't park in front of the store all day long," he says. According to him, the goal of the move is to increase car turnover and allow customers to reach the businesses. In addition, the municipality plans to expand the parking lot near the Plaza Hotel with an investment of close to eight million shekels.

Another problem in the city center bothers business owners and residents: the presence of drug addicts in the area. Nabaa says that he acted through the Ministry of Health in an attempt to move a center for the distribution of drug substitutes from the city center, and claims that following the closure of centers in other cities, patients from all over the North are arriving in Tiberias, and some of them remain in the area.

"This is a very disturbing phenomenon," he says. "We, together with the Israel Police, are fighting every day. Sometimes when we catch them doing some action, they reach court, and after two hours they are released and return." And here, unlike many other topics where he describes plans and achievements, Nabaa also admits failure. "Well, I didn't succeed. This is something I haven't managed to deal with yet," he says. "But we will get it out of there, I'm not giving up."

"Everyone thinks this city is becoming ultra-Orthodox, but that's not true"

One of the claims that has accompanied Tiberias for years is that the city is changing its character and becoming an ultra-Orthodox city. Former mayor Ron Kobi continues to claim that Tiberias is effectively becoming a tourist destination for the ultra-Orthodox public.

Nabaa gets angry at the claim. "Everyone thinks this city is becoming ultra-Orthodox, but that's not true," he says. "There are ultra-Orthodox in it. Ultra-Orthodox live in it, but it is not an ultra-Orthodox city." According to him, about 30 percent of the city's residents are ultra-Orthodox, while more than half of the residents are traditional. "This city is a traditional city, it is a religious city, no doubt, but it is not ultra-Orthodox."

Nabaa even sets a clear demographic goal for himself: "We need to maintain this balance. This city must always maintain the 70-30 balance." According to him, he is working to bring pre-military preparatory programs, midrashot, and other populations to preserve the mix.

He attributes the damage to the image to a large extent to Ron Kobi. "The damage that Ron Kobi did to the city of Tiberias, both the appointed committee and I are trying to fix over the years, and it will take us a long time." As an example, he tells of a meeting with the owner of a large advertising company in Tel Aviv, whom he approached to examine rebranding for the city. "He asked me: if my wife and I come to a hotel, can she go to the pool in a swimsuit? I was in shock. And then I understood the damage."

The debate around the character of the city recently received tangible expression on the new Trapez beach. Ultra-Orthodox elements protested against the exposure of the beach, and among other things, demanded solutions that would allow passing in the area without walking adjacent to bathers. Nabaa says that pressure was put on him to build fences that would hide the beach, but he refused. "There were requests that we make fences and all sorts of things. I did not agree to this matter and we did not make any fences that would block the beach," he says.

In contrast, the municipality agreed to promote an additional sidewalk that would create an alternative path. "When a religious or ultra-Orthodox person comes and tells me, listen, if you can give me an alternative to walk, I don't see anything wrong with that," says Nabaa. "I need to respect everyone." To the claim that this is a surrender, he replies: "There is no surrender here. The demand was to make fences, and that we didn't do. The beach remained exactly as we designed it."

According to him, the sidewalk will be used by the general public and also by users of the adjacent padel complex. Nabaa also rejects the claim that the event reflects a broad struggle between ultra-Orthodox and secular. "There are extremists everywhere. If it hadn't made headlines, people wouldn't even have known about it."

"The train is supposed to be here in the next decade"

The more complex question is not just how many ultra-Orthodox live in the city, but what kind of tourist city Tiberias seeks to be. When Nabaa is asked how he wants to see the Sabbath in the city in a decade, he replies: "Let everyone do what is comfortable for them." According to him, the municipality maintains the status quo. Some restaurants are open on the Sabbath, the beaches are active, and there is no municipal attempt to prevent this. "I don't want them to disturb in the neighborhoods on the Sabbath, one needs to respect," he says. "But the tourist space, certainly it will be."

And then he phrases it even more clearly: "A tourist city needs to work all week. It needs to be vibrant all week, and that is our dream." Alongside tourism, Nabaa plans a significantly larger Tiberias. The urban goal he speaks of is 120,000 residents by the year 2040.

According to him, about 7,500 housing units are in plans and under construction in the new neighborhoods, including Tiberias HaMoshavah A and B, HaRakafot, and other complexes. "In five years, Tiberias HaMoshavah A, Tiberias HaMoshavah B, HaRakafot will already be built. All these neighborhoods will be here," he says. He also pins his hopes on the train. According to him, the railway plan is expected to be deposited in 2027. "The train is supposed to be here in the next decade. It will shorten our way to Tel Aviv and the center, and this is very important to me."

At the same time, he points to the development of the Kidmat Galil and Tziporit industrial zones and to defense factories as future sources of employment for the residents of the new neighborhoods. But he admits that Tiberias, like other cities in the North, struggles to keep young people. According to him, quite a few young people leave for the center at the first stage and return only after starting a family, when they realize that housing in the center is too expensive. "Two and a half years ago, the price here was about 12 thousand shekels per square meter, today it is about 17.5 to 18 thousand shekels per square meter. And still, it is a price they can afford."

Nabaa also points to the education system as one of the tools through which he seeks to keep families and young people in the city. According to him, the four high schools in Tiberias have been for the fourth consecutive year "at the top of the leading schools in Israel," and the municipality is simultaneously investing in teachers, students, and infrastructure. Among other things, he tells of the establishment of innovation centers from kindergarten in formal and informal education, and of building a new building for the Amal high school. "We invest a lot in education," he says. Alongside this, the municipality seeks to strengthen the students' local and national identity as well. "We strengthen their Judaism, their Israeliness, and their Tiberiasness," said Nabaa, explaining that the intention is for more content about Israel, the state, and the history of Israel.

"You can't leave it to fate"

Towards the end of the conversation, Nabaa was asked a simple question: if we sit again in 2030, what are the things that if they don't happen by then, he himself will see as a failure? The first from his point of view is urban renewal. "I must have these projects to save people's lives," he says, mentioning the danger of earthquakes in the region. According to him, he is frustrated by the pace of the planning institutions' handling of some of the projects. "There are plans that have been ping-ponged for nine months. It's crazy."

The second is tourism: building the new hotels and strengthening Tiberias' status as a tourist city. And the third is completing the upgrade of the public space. All these drain for him to the year 2030. A test that he sees not only as an opportunity to bring a Pope or millions of pilgrims, but an opportunity to fix part of the gap that has been created over years between Tiberias' exceptional location and its actual status.

"We have an opportunity here to return to ourselves," says Nabaa. "To return to what this state deserves. We must build these hotels and do the infrastructure. You can't leave it to fate. It won't work."

Former mayor Ron Kobi said in response: "Yossi Nabaa lives in a virtual reality movie and the simple fact testifies to this: 70% of Tiberias students next year are ultra-Orthodox and religious. The city is closed and locked on the Sabbath, there is absolutely no nightlife. Millions of shekels are directed to the construction of educational buildings for the ultra-Orthodox and above all a huge wave of departure of young families and young people. I am sorry but Yossi Nabaa and his deputy failed a severe failure that will take years if at all to fix. Huge problems in an economic company and appointments of cronies bring the end of Nabaa's rule closer, who probably will not complete his term for many reasons. We are preparing for the elections to unite to save the city for the last time and this includes a supreme effort to finish the creditors' arrangement and pay everyone all their money. The public understands today the mistake of election day when the secular barely voted with 24% turnout at the ballot box out of fear of the rabbis. The public understands that the city is crushed. The State of Israel understands that Tiberias is a tourist city for the ultra-Orthodox for two weeks a year. In my time in the winter every weekend, 50,000 people of the House of Israel flooded the city on average."