Record Tourism to the Holy Land This Year

Tourism to Israel has reached an all-time high with 1.6 million tourists visiting the Holy Land during the first half of 2010, a 39 percent jump over the same period last year and 10 percent higher than in 2008, the previous record year.
 
A record was also set for the month of June as 259,000 tourists--an increase of 24 percent over 2009 and 8 percent over June 2008--visited the country.
 
Last year, Christians comprised slightly more than half of the tourists to Israel, according to tourism ministry numbers. From the Holy Sepulchre to the Garden Tomb and north to the Galilee, Christians, whether Evangelical, Catholic or Orthodox, are flooding the holy sites again this year.

Elisa Moed, chief executive officer of Travelujah (www.travelujah.com), the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land, credits the surge to Christian tourism. Moed estimates that as many as two-thirds of tourists to Israel are Christian.

Israel’s tourism minister credited the ministry’s marketing efforts for the record tourism in the face of challenging public relations.

“The increase in incoming tourism during the first half of this year should not be taken for granted,” said Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov. “It is the result of massive investment in marketing activities around the world with significant budgets, especially against the background of the public diplomacy challenges that Israel is facing.”

Misezhnikov made a pitch for more government investment for the industry, which would lead to job creation and additional revenue, he said.

By Nicole Jansezian, Travelujah

Nicole Jansezian writes for Travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is a vibrant online community offering high quality Christian content, user and expert blogs, travel tours and planning services for people interested in connecting with or traveling to the Holy Land.