All the news about Israeli tourism

Ramiz Jaraisy Mayor of Nazareth told a press conference organized by the Ministry of Tourism that the Treasury are still arguing over the budget for the Papal visit, even though the trip is less than six weeks away.  Despite this Jaraisy, in conjunction with the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet LeYisrael) said that construction and renovation work was well advanced.

According to Mayor Jaraisy close to 40 percent of the work has been completed and the rest of the main construction work would be ready no later than 25th April.  Jaraisy praised the Jewish National Fund for their support and said that because much of the building work was on JNF land, the organization wanted to ensure that the aesthetic beauty of the landscape would remain undisturbed.

A budget of some 20 million shekels ($5 million) was being spent on renovation work in Nazareth and Mayor Jaraisy said that he hoped that this would help encourage significant future tourism to the city as well as to help improve socioeconomic conditions for the local population.

Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, Deputy director-general, Rafi Ben-Hur said that a special budget of 43 million shekels ($10.5 million) had been earmarked to cover the cost of the Pope’s visit to Israel.  He added that approximately 60 percent of tourists who visited Israel in 2008 were Christians and it was hoped that the visit of the Pontiff would help to open up future pilgrimages to the country.  He also emphasized the slogan of the papal visit was ‘Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a Bridge for Peace’.

Ben-Hur also said that the Ministry of Tourism had setup a 65 kilometer trail from Nazareth to Capernaum, which would allow pilgrims to walk either part of or the whole trail where Jesus and his disciples walked, helping to make the New Testament come alive.  The Ministry was also setting up a special web site for the occasion, http://www.holyland-pilgrimage.org/ which would be available in seven languages.

The Pontiff’s trip to the Middle East which starts in Jordan, reaches Israel on 11th May.  The Pope will hold a Mass in the Valley of Josaphat (Kidron Valley) in Jerusalem and at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  The Papal delegation arrives in Nazareth on 14th May where a Mass for up to 40,000 pilgrims will be held at a newly constructed amphitheater at the foot of Mount Precipice (Mount Kedumim); where tradition has it an angry mob attempted to throw Jesus off the cliff (Luke 4:16-30).

From there the Pope will visit the Franciscan convent in Nazareth and will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu before making his way to the Basilica of the Annunciation Church for a religious service, before his return journey to Jerusalem.

Data from the Ministry of Tourism shows that the number of Christian pilgrims visiting Israel has grown by 43 percent since the papal visit of Pope John Paul II in the year 2000, with more than 1 million pilgrims arriving in 2008. Of the 3 million tourists visiting Israel in 2008, almost 1.8 million were Christians, with the more than 1.1 million from Europe; more than half of that number coming from Russia, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.  While there were big increases in the number of Christian tourists from the USA and Africa, there was significant falls in Christian tourism from most parts of South and Central America and Asia.

Comparison of the different Christian denominations shows that between 2000 and 2008 the number of Protestants visiting Israel went down by more than 25 percent; while the number of Catholics visiting Israel increased by close to 30 percent.  More than 430,000 Evangelist and other Christian groups visited the Holy Land in 2008.