Christian Tourists Outnumber Jews Visiting Israel to See Holy Sites

For Anne Allen, a devout Christian from Arizona, spending Easter in the Holy Land was the realization of a lifelong dream.

Last Sunday, Allen and her daughter Nadine, from Alaska, made an Easter pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the Christian Quarter. According to Christian tradition, the church, which is home to six different denominations, is the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

On Easter Sunday, the church was filled with holiday visitors, many of whom had come to Israel specifically to celebrate that holiday. Tour guides, speaking a myriad of languages, led groups of Christian pilgrims through the alleyways of the Old City and into the church courtyard.

A hush fell as they entered the 1,000-year-old church, where pilgrims from dozens of countries were already deep in prayer.

Though Easter is an especially busy time at the nation’s Christian holy places, they are far from deserted the rest of the time. As any local guide can tell you, Christian tourism is a lucrative 365-day-a-year business.

Although it makes some people here uncomfortable to admit it, the majority of tourists who visit Israel are Christians, not Jews.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, about 40 percent of last year’s 1.96 million tourists were Jews, while virtually all the rest were Christian. Of these, an estimated 40-45 percent had a religious motivation for visiting Israel.

Whereas tourism officials once looked to Diaspora Jews as the key to successful tourism, they have gradually come to the realization that Christian tourism will make or break the industry.

“Let’s face it,” said Aryeh Zomer, director of overseas operations for the Ministry of Tourism. “Only 20 percent of American Jews have ever visited Israel.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “it’s been difficult to raise this percentage, because the younger generation of Diaspora Jews is largely unaffiliated with the Jewish community. Without some involvement with a synagogue or youth movement, they don’t think much about visiting Israel.”

On the other hand, said Zomer, “the sky is the limit when it comes to Christian tourists.

“Most are motivated to come by their church leaders, and they will come even if there is (political) tension. They are less likely to cancel their plans,” according to Zomer.

“Even during times of crisis in Israel, 80 to 90 percent see their plans through,” Zomer said.

Realizing that the Christian tourism market has great potential, the Ministry of Tourism has intensified its efforts to attract an ever-growing number of pilgrims.

“Though the Tourism Ministry has always been interested in drawing Christians, we never had the budget to do so,” said Zomer. “During the past two or three years our overall tourism budget has grown significantly, so we have been able to target the Christian market,” he said.

Of the $30 million spent on promoting tourism in Israel in 1993, about 30 percent was allocated to the Christian sector.

A large percentage of that sum was spent on advertisements in the Christian media, while smaller amounts were spent on ministry-sponsored seminars directed toward the clergy and other church leaders.

“We spend a lot of time abroad talking to church leaders, since they are the ones who usually initiate group tours to Israel,” Zomer noted.

At least 90 percent of those who visit do so as part of a group pilgrimage.

The Tourism Ministry also sponsors junkets for Christian journalists, who are encouraged to report directly from Israel.

In addition, the ministry enlists the aid of influential American Christians, such as entertainer Pat Boon, who has served as an unofficial, voluntary “good will ambassador” for the past three years.

Despite these efforts, “the Israeli tourism industry isn’t doing enough to cater to Christians,” asserted Jan Willem van der Hoeven, spokesman of the International Christian Embassy.

Based in Israel with offices around the world, the embassy organizes visits for tens of thousands of Pro-Israel Christians each year.

“While there are many good tour guides, most do not show pride in their own country,” van der Hoeven said. “Israelis aren’t hypocrites. They will not say something they do not believe themselves.

“Some tour guides will start off saying, `Look, I’m an agnostic, but I’ll describe these sites to you.’ They’ve lost their audience even before they’ve started!” van der Hoeven said.

Unlike many Jewish tourists, who wish to combine history with a visit to, say, the Chagall windows at Handassah Medical Center in the Ein Kerem section of Jerusalem, or to other modern sites, “Christian tourists prefer historical sites associated with the prophets, the patriarchs and Jesus,” the spokesman for the International Christian Embassy said.

“Rather than walking along the beach on Tel Aviv, our pilgrims would prefer a good military briefing to learn what modern challenges Israelis are facing,” he said.

Many tourists ask, `How can you give back Jericho, which figures so prominently in the Bible?'” said van der Hoeven.

“Why not take them to the settlement of Beit El, which has both religious and political significance?” he asked. “Such a visit would go a long way toward informing visitors, who then go back home and discuss what they’ve learned.”

If van der Hoeven could plan every trip, he would hold a repentance session at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, he said. “If a tourist rushes through Yad Vashem, it becomes just another site. We recently held such a session, and it was a tremendously moving experience,” said van der Hoeven.

Unfortunately, he added, “people often come away feeling they’ve been milked for money. That’s a shame, because at least 80 percent of Christian tourists would like to be goodwill ambassadors, given the opportunity.”

Anne Allen says she is among them. “I will go back home and tell everyone that they should come and visit. As a Christian, coming to Israel has been a marvelous learning experience. I really hope I’ll be able to come back again.”