'Naked Dead Sea' Tourism Strategy-What were they thinking?

At sunrise, on a mid-September day, more than 1,200 Israelis arrived at the Dead Sea, stripped naked and floated in unison in the salty lake while the Jewish American photographer Spencer Tunick shot photos for his upcoming installation entitled "Naked Sea."

The project is intended to draw attention to the environmental plight of the receding Dead Sea and to encourage people to vote for it in the New Seven Wonders of the World competition.

Israel's Ministry of Tourism may not be on the list of supporters found on the exhibit's website, but the fact that the ministry invested in a press release on the subject certainly smacks of cooperation.

"Artist Spencer Tunick has today revealed the breathtaking first image from his historic artwork at the Dead Sea to support the global campaign to promote voting for the Dead Sea as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature (campaign ends 11.11.11.)," read the Israel Ministry of Tourism's release dated October 25.

The Tourism Ministry, a government body, imprudently uses flattering words like "breathtaking" and "historic" to describe a photo which is neither as it features naked bodies crudely and irrelevantly obscuring a natural landmark vying for "natural wonder" status.

The entire episode begs the question: Was this publicity stunt appropriate?

For a country that is overwhelmingly dependent on faith-based travelers - approximately two thirds of Israel's tourists are Christian - I certainly don't think so.

Israel is the cradle of faith to more than 1.5 billion Christians worldwide. The overwhelming majority of people come here for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to follow the footsteps of Jesus, from his birthplace, Bethlehem, in the Palestinian Territories, to the Galilee in northern Israel where he spent most of his ministry years teaching his disciples and performing miracles, and, of course, to Jerusalem, where he spent the last days of his life, was crucified and, ultimately, rose from the dead.

Many itineraries also include the Dead Sea not just for its unique natural assets, but because of its connection to such important biblical and historic sites such as Qumran, Sodom, Ein Gedi and Masada.

The core of any successful Israeli tourism marketing strategy must be in keeping with our branding and image. If we see the Christian market as an integral part of our tourism strategy (and with 2.4 million out of 3.45 million annual visitors it certainly is) then we better make sure that our marketing and promotion reflects not only our core values, but the values and beliefs of our most important and trusted market segment.

Leaders from several Christian organizations told me that using these photos to promote the Dead Sea was very inappropriate. They believe that many Christians, Jews and Moslems would look down on a public display of nudity, consider the photo immodest at best and offensive at worst.

In our zeal to be identified as the New Wonder of the World are we also becoming the new Sodom and Gomorrah?

The religious and artistic freedom that Israel enjoys is a testament to the successful democracy that we have built and it is something to be proud of. However, in a country whose tourism product is directly related to the Bible and faith, we have a plethora of ways - other than nudity - to draw attention to an important tourist attraction. While artistic trends come and go, biblical attractions have and will endure for millennia.

Promoting this kind of photo op demonstrates our thirst for recognition at all costs as well as our lack of sensitivity. It is shortsighted, alienates our core audience and undermines the trust we've built with our tourists. Rather than positioning Israel as unique, vibrant and spiritual, it places us in compromising position, so to speak, as a base, immoral society.

Our own government, via Israel's Ministry of Tourism, has promoted Mr. Tunick's "Naked Sea" website and his recently released photo. Last week, Israel's Ministry of Tourism released the first photo in a press release entitled "First Picture from Spencer Tunick's Exhibition Revealed," along with several paragraphs describing the photo, his website (which happens to promote a link to the Ministry of Tourism voting page) and the site's candidacy. Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov, has asked residents to vote stating, "winning will make the Israeli tourism product unique and will encourage investment in the Dead Sea and the surrounding area...while improving Israel's image abroad."

Israel is world renowned as the "start-up nation." We possess an energy and creativity that is unique to the world. Our tourism marketing tactics need not offend another vital and huge segment of our tourism constituency in order to attract other essential segments. Certainly we could have thought of many other ways to bring in votes for the Dead Sea that would have been just as unique and much less offensive than Tunick's photo.

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Elisa L. Moed is the Founder and CEO of Israel-based Travelujah, the leading Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. People can learn, plan and share their Holy Land tour and travel experiences on Travelujah.