In Part 01 of our series about Jerusalem and
Christians visits, we learned that the ‘river of pilgrimage’ has been flowing
from the very beginning of the church age. Christians constitute the highest
amount of sacred visitors to a holy city which is also sacred to Judaism and
Islam, too. This growing phenomena in Christian visits is even more remarkable
considering that neither Christ nor the apostles command it, and there is more
of a spiritual, rather than geographic, emphasis in Christian worship.
We also learned why Christians visit Jerusalem.
They can be summarised in two key words:
Devotion: From
the very beginning, Christians have been motivated to visit Jerusalem so that
they can ‘walk where Jesus walked.’ Following in the footsteps of the
Master is a strong sign of devotion.
Education: Pious
believers visit Jerusalem because they want to learn more about the Bible.
Considering that Jerusalem is mentioned over 811 times in the KJV, it is
indisputably the premier city of Scripture.
What is remarkable is that these twin pillars of
devotion and education can be applied across the board, to pilgrims from every
denomination and every century of the church age.
The
Tourism Factor
To the ancient practice of Christian pilgrimage we
need to add the phenomena of modern mass tourism. It is a multi-billion dollar
growth industry and has been particularly potent since the end of the Second
World War. How does modern tourism affect time-honoured Christian pilgrimage?
We begin by defining tourist: An individual who
temporarily leaves their home and travels in order to pursue pleasure and
holiday-making.
There is both domestic and international tourism. In many countries
incoming non-residents and non-immigrants receive a ‘tourist visa,’ whether
their purpose is business, religious, or recreational. Specifically, an
international tourist is a person who enters a country for the purpose of
touring, pleasure, leisure, and/or sightseeing.
Since the Second World War, there is has been a measurable rise in the
disposable income and discretionary time. No longer is tourism reserved for the
rich and famous; travel costs have become more affordable. This means that
working class people can now do international tourism. Many nations, especially
those with limited natural resources, welcome the trend towards mass tourism as
a means of earning hard currency, providing jobs, and building better
international relations.
The advent of the modern tourist industry has had an incalculable effect
on Christian visits to the Holy City, especially since 1967. After the June
(Six Day) War, Israel captured territory which contains some of the most
important holy (Biblical) sites in the world. In recognition of this fact,
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism sought for ways to attract as many Christian
visitors as possible. Naturally, Jewish tourism was also encouraged but with
only 14 million Jews worldwide and 6.5 million in Israel alone, the potential
of mass Jewish tourism is limited. The Christian world offers tens of millions
of potential visitors., who can visit the Biblical sites, invest money, and
return home as good-will ambassadors.
Israel’s
Ministry of Tourism
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism began the (Christian) Pilgrimage
Promotion Department. Starting with virtually no knowledge of Christianity, the
department learned the vocabulary used by different Christian denominations,
the numerous holy and feast days, and the significance of the major and minor
holy sites. They produced travel posters (the Church of the Annunciation in
Nazareth was a favoured pre-1967 theme; since then the skyline of Jerusalem is
the most common), and pilgrims' maps. Christians worldwide have been encouraged
to visit their favourite holy places of Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of
Galilee, and Jerusalem, all under one roof.
Full-page ads were placed in Christian periodicals stating ‘Come walk
where Jesus Walked...Israel Government Tourist Office.’ Israel Information
Nights, which featured film and talks, were hosted in major centres. Free or
subsidised tours were offered to pastors and Christian leaders with the goal
that they will bring a tour of their own in the future. Furthermore, the
Ministry of Tourism embarked on an ambitious program of training Israelis as
licensed guides, building hotels, importing air-conditioned top of the line
tour buses, and including archaeological sites, museums, and the Yad Va Shem
Holocaust Memorial onto the tour itinerary. While the Ministry of Tourism seeks
to attract all kinds of tourists, including secular holiday-makers to Tel Aviv
and Eilat, it has been especially effective in targeting Christians to come to
Jerusalem.
The efforts of the pilgrimage promotion department and the ministry of
tourism have paid off. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, tourist
numbers to Israel have increased from a 1972 figure of 727,533 visitors to a
1990 total of 1,341,700.
Here are some interesting statistics:
Tourism to Israel (of which 2/3rds are
Christians and 90% plus of these visit Jerusalem) was a follows:
1970-1979: 7.7 million total
1980-1989: 12.6 million
1990-1999: 20.3 million
2000-2009: 19.3 million (the
second intifada of 2000-2004 is the reason for the dip)
Palestinian Arabs are also interested in being part of the tourist
industry. Since 1986 Bethlehem University offers a tour-guide course and school
of hotel management. Since the Oslo accords of 1993, the Palestinians are custodians
of some important Biblical sites, like the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem,
the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the city of Samaria (also known as
Sebastiyah), and Jacob’s Well (John 4) near Nablus. Even in Israeli hotels in
Jerusalem, Tiberias, and elsewhere, many of the employees are Arabs.
There is evidence that Jerusalem is the universal destination of all
Christian Holy Land tour itineraries and a regular stop on the vast majority of
private Christian visits. One survey called estimated that over 90% of
Christians visited Jerusalem. Even Northern Europeans who have a winter ‘sun
holiday’ in Eilat on the Red Sea, using a chartered flight, make sure they stop
by Jerusalem to visit holy sites before returning home.
The promotion and marketing of tourism to the holy land definitely
explains the increased number of visitors. Yet these promoters do not have to
do a ‘hard sell:’ Jerusalem is a magnet for Christian visits in its own right.
TO BE CONTINUED.
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