Tourists Return to Holy Land en masse

[QueerJustice]

Tourists Return to Holy Land en masse
DINA KRAFT
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
TEL AVIV - Rapelling down Judean Desert mountain faces, bumping along dirt roads by jeep and tucking notes into the Western Wall in Jerusalem, tourists have returned to Israel for winter vacation in the largest numbers since the Palestinian intifada began more than four years ago.

The perception that Israel is safer than it was a year ago, and renewed hopes for peace in the wake of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's death, are playing their part in luring tourists back, tourism officials and trip organizers said.

"During the intifada you literally begged people to come, and now people are begging you to get on the trip," said Marlene Post, president of Hadassah International and chairwoman of Birthright Israel in North America.

Across the board, more tourists are coming - Jewish and Christian, students and families, are all part of an overall surge in tourism in 2004. Some 1.4 million tourists are expected to come to Israel by the end of 2004, a 44 percent increase over last year.


http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/041231/tourists.shtml


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I myself was one of those 1.4 million in 2004 (was great)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Surely, some are looking for...

The Armegeddon they know they misplaced there, somewhere. Along with their car keys.

[QueerJustice]

2. mmm but most of the tourists mentioned,,,,

,,,,in the article probably do not believe in ``The Armegeddon ``...

just a guess on my behalf......

[bemildred]

3. Israel, Palestinians Launch Joint Tourism Push for Pilgrims

JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinian Authority plan to jointly market their region as a pilgrimage destination, Israel's Ministry of Tourism announced Sunday (Dec. 26).

Israeli Tourism Ministry Director General Eli Cohen and his Palestinian counterpart, Dr. Bajis Ismail, agreed on the plan during a meeting in early December.

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Both Israelis and Palestinians have suffered from the virtual collapse in their intertwined tourism industries that resulted from the violent Palestinian uprising more than four years ago.

Despite a significant increase in the number of tourists to Israel in 2004, only 13,000 pilgrims, including 4,700 Israeli-Arab Christians, visited Bethlehem during Christmas. Thousands of Christian and Muslim Palestinians have emigrated from the region in recent years, and many more say they will do so if the economy does not improve significantly.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/158/story_15875_1.html