Just days after Kibbutz Neot Smadar was added to the U.N. Tourism 2025 list of 52 Best Tourism Villages in the world, the kibbutz’s tourism director told Hebrew-language outlet Ynet on Monday that the small community in Israel’s south could not handle the flood of booking requests.
“In the guest rooms they told me, ‘Enough, we’re collapsing, we can’t keep up,’” said Adva Meir-Weil. “Suddenly there were so many inquiries,” the director added.
The kibbutz, located in the southern Arava, was “very surprised” to be included in the prestigious U.N. list, Meir-Weil continued, “but on the other hand we worked four years [to achieve] this. When we received the announcement in September we were thrilled and glad,” she related.
In the letter, the U.N. agency praised the kibbutz for its cultural and natural richness and its commitment to sustainability “in all three dimensions: ecological, social and economic,” according to Ynet.
The list of new villages was announced on Oct. 17 in a special ceremony held in Huzhou City, China.
The small towns were selected from over 270 applications from 65 U.N. Tourism Member States, according to the international body’s website.
Following the recognition, Israel’s tourism ministry and the Southern Arava Regional Council issued a joint statement, saying that Neot Semadar “serves as a unique model of a cooperative ecological community and offers an exceptional tourist experience that includes an Art Center—built over 15 years by community members—an organic boutique winery, an inn featuring local produce, desert guest rooms, artist workshops, stargazing alongside the Weizmann Institute’s survey telescope, and guided tours through breathtaking desert landscapes,” per Ynet.
The kibbutz welcomed “this important international recognition and hope it will serve as a springboard for the continued development of tourism in the Arava and in Israel as a whole.”
Neot Semadar was founded in 1989 and is home to some 250 residents.
