The summer is drawing to an end. The Jewish New Year season is over. The tourism season is winding down.

A success? Well, the total number of visitors is expected to be close to the 3m figure. Yes, that will be an Israeli record with a particular boost coming from East European countries. And yet this is still small compared to most other travel spots. For comparison, the Czech republic draws in 6-7m each year.

So, once in the Holy Land, whatcan these people get up to. Let’s ignore for the moment the standard Jewish and historical sites like the Wailing Wall or the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. These appear in all the brochures.

In the past week, nearly 7,000 Christian pilgrims converged on Jerusalem for the annual celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. From here, many spread out to excursions around the Sea of Galilee or to visit commercial opportunities.

For the young, Israel is seen as an opportunity to join the music tours. Mr Ozzy Osbourne was heard rocking in Tel Aviv this week. And if you had bought cleverly, you could have received double tickets for Elton John and Rod Stewart, who performed a few days after each other in June. With the list of other performers ranging from Neil Sedaka to Rihanna, the noise channels in the Middle East were not solely dominated by international politicans.

Another cool outlet was discovered by Aussies. Last week, hundreds of them emerged out of kibbutzim, the desert, beach dives, even offices – all congregating on a large Tel Aviv pub at 7.00am on a Saturday morning. The event was the Aussie rules football Grand Final, which was being shown live. Last year, even the ambassador attended. None wanted to miss out on a feast of bear and burgers so early in the day!?!?

I have a client setting up cool photography courses in Jerusalem for tourists. I know of people who come to the Holy Land for the unique bird watching opportunities. Clearly there is more to this country than a few old religious buildings and some military sites.