Visiting Harry Potter’s grave in Israel?

Even as Harry Potter (the protagonist) defeats Voldemort (the evil wizard) in the last series J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, grave of a dead Harry Potter is drawing tourists in the Israeli town of Ramle.

It’s actually the grave of a deceased British soldier who incidentally shared the name with the wizard Harry Potter of the fiction world. This grave of the soldier Harry Potter lies at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Ramle, a city in central Israel, and is becoming a popular attraction.

There is no connection with the Harry Potter we know from literature. It’s the name that sells. His grave is helping draw tourists, Ron Peled, a tour guide in the region was quoted as saying by Associated Press, adding that he brings many tourists to the grave of the soldier who was killed in a battle with an armed band in Palestine in 1939.

According to Ramle municipality, the tombstone is helping draw domestic travelers largely though they do not keep records of number of tourists visited.

“It was in 2005 when we started receiving inquiries about the grave. We listed the spot on the city’s tourism website at the beginning of 2010,” the municipality said.

Now it’s a common practice among visitors to look for Potter's tombstone among the 4,500 graves at the British military cemetery in Ramle, and photograph it. It's a type of pilgrimage for some man whose name stands out. If you didn't say that Harry Potter was buried here, no one would come here, a visitor was quoted as saying by the media.

Thousands of tourists flock the town of Ramle to see its many archaeological sites, notable buildings, ancient cave and more. Soldier Harry Potter’s grave, in addition, would do only good to the tourism in the city.