The Dead Sea, located 420 meters below sea level, is the lowest point on earth. This hypersaline lake is an extraordinary water reservoir, the third in its salt concentration around the world, 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. Due to a combination of high salinity and water temperature reaching 390C, it offers a harsh environment in which most living organisms cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Apart from being a place of refuge for King David, it was one of the world's first health resorts serving Herod the Great. Nowadays, thanks to its special properties and medicinal benefits, it is a renowned tourist attraction and health resort, with an average of more than one million foreign tourists a year, enjoying the Dead Sea's healing properties, mud baths and hot springs.