One of the most treasured possessions a pilgrim will take home from Israel is a “Pilgrimage Certificate.” This may be issued by the tour operating company or a religious organization or site, bearing witness forever to the pilgrim’s stay in the Holy Land. Christian groups visiting Jerusalem - as all of them probably do - can receive pilgrimage certificates in a variety of languages, signed by Israel’s Minister of Tourism and the Mayor of Jerusalem. Stores displaying the Ministry of Tourism emblem offer purchasers the possibility of VAT refund (currently 17 percent - to be arranged at the airport upon departure). Study & Prayer The average pilgrimage tour does not allow much time for study sessions. However, even one or two evening lectures during the course of a tour will add content and interest. Some of the study possibilities include: A) Inviting speakers on a variety of subjects to the hotel, at convenient times; B) Holding on-the-spot discussions at local sites; C) Including structured study sessions of one, two, or more days during the tour; D) Making the total pilgrimage a study and prayer experience, with occasional trips and accommodations at the place of study. Promoting Pilgrimage Investing in tourism is a persistent ongoing endeavor on the part of both the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the private sector. Tourism is one of Israel’s top three foreign currency earning industries, employing a large percentage of the workforce, both directly and indirectly. The buoyancy of Israel’s economy is therefore directly related to the number of tourists visiting the country. The Christian pilgrim market is the greatest single segment of tourism to Israel and is therefore of prime importance. The pilgrim comes here for a specific experience, one that cannot be found anywhere else, and the Israel Ministry of Tourism is very conscious of this fact, making every effort via its Christian Pilgrimage Desk and overseas representatives to give practical assistance to tour organizers. It distributes a wide variety of flyers, shells, toolkits and other promotional materials, hosts educational groups of travel agents and prospective tour leaders from abroad and offers concrete assistance to tour groups and agents by subsidizing advertising costs and reaching out to the public via road shows, travel exhibitions and large public events. Contact the representatives of the IGTO (Israel Government Tourist Office), located in major cities around the world, for advice and assistance. The Ministry also utilizes social networking platforms, and it has inaugurated a variety of specialized Christian pilgrimage websites. These include a dedicated Catholic site (www.
holyland-pilgrimage.org), one for the Evangelical market in even more languages (www.evangelicalisraelexperience. com), a multilingual “Spirit of the Holyland” Youtube channel with films for the Catholic, Protestant and Provoslavic markets, and “Holyland Pilgrimage,” a second Youtube site for the Catholic market. All of these are available in a wide variety of languages. It also produces an annual Holy Land Calendar of Christian Feasts and Events, listing all the special events and feasts according to the Anglican, Armenian, Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian, Lutheran, Orthodox, Protestant and Syrian churches. Another effort is entitled “A Holy Land Pilgrimage: In the Footsteps of the Virgin Mary,” which details a Catholic pilgrimage itinerary featuring sites central to the life of the Virgin Mary. Updates Sites that have received upgrades since the country was closed to tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic, include: Megiddo National Park; the multimedia presentation at the Saxum Visitor Center; excavations at Magdala; new accessible paths at the Garden Tomb; the Northern
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