(Communicated by the Ministry of Tourism)
The Tourism Ministry is working in cooperation with churches and other bodies to facilitate the celebration of the Christmas festivities for the 75,000 visitors expected to arrive in Israel for the Christmas period. According to Tourism Ministry estimates, 25,000 of these visitors will be pilgrims.
During the holiday, the Ministry of Tourism will offer free transportation, helping pilgrims travelling between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Buses will leave according to demand from
Mar Elias Monastery to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and back again and will operate non-stop from noon on 24 December through to noon on 25 December. Representatives from the Ministry of Tourism will welcome tourists and pilgrims at Rachel’s Crossing with a gift bag containing a set of coasters depicting scenes of Israel and chocolate in the spirit of the holiday.
According to Tourism Ministry statistics from Rachel's Crossing, 1.85 million tourists have passed through the crossing to visit Bethlehem in the months Jan-Oct 2013.
It is anticipated that about 2 million people will have visited Bethlehem in 2013 (almost double the 2012 figure of 1.18 million).
Since 2011, the Tourism Ministry has invested NIS 86 million in developing and maintaining the infrastructure of
Christian sites, in order to enrich the pilgrim's spiritual experience. These sites include, among others, the baptism site at
Qasr el Yahud near the Dead Sea,
Mount Zion and
Ein Karem in Jerusalem and the
Gospel Trail in the Galilee. Other projects include, among others, the
boardwalk from Tiberias to Capernaum,
Korazim and Mount Precipice. Future infrastructure projects at Christian sites include, among others, Tel Megiddo, the Old City of Jerusalem, Sussita and other sites in the Tiberias and Galilee region.
As part of the ongoing activities to promote pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Tourism Minister Dr. Uzi Landau and the representatives of the Tourism Ministry in Israel and around the world meet regularly with Church leaders and communities. The Tourism Minister met recently with both His Beatitude, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Tual and His Beatitude, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III in order to discuss matters important to the Church and future collaboration.
Representatives in the Tourism Ministry are anticipating continued collaboration with the Church for the visit of Pope Francis, who is expected to visit the Holy Land in the first half of 2014. The Tourism Ministry invested over NIS3.5 million in infrastructure and marketing the recent
International Day of Faith celebrations held at Mount Precipice in Nazareth (17 November 2013), led by the Latin Patriarch and attended by about 7,000 Catholic faithful from the region and overseas.
Tourism Minister Dr. Uzi Landau: “The Tourism Ministry under my leadership will continue to invest significantly in the preservation and renovation of Christian holy sites. Since its establishment, the State of Israel has attached great importance to values of freedom of religion and worship and works tirelessly to facilitate religious practice for people of all religions in freedom and mutual respect. We will do all we can to ensure that every Christian can visit the holy sites. We invite the faithful to visit the Holy Land and experience a powerful religious and spiritual pilgrimage in Jerusalem, the Galilee and beyond.”
Targeted marketing campaigns take place around the world to Christian communities, encouraging tourism to the Holy Land. The ministry runs dedicated websites and facebook pages for the Catholic and Evangelical communities.
- www.holyland-pilgrimage.org (the Tourism Ministry’s dedicated site for Catholic pilgrims, available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Polish and Portuguese)
- www.goisrael.com/Evng (the Tourism Ministry’s dedicated site for Evangelical Christians)