Christian pilgrims to Israel will soon be granted religious certificates by the Ministry of Tourism, as part of a new initiative to increase Christian tourism to the Holy Land. The certificates, which will be inaugurated by Tourism Minister Gideon Ezra, aim to give Christian visits to Jerusalem a prominence similar to that of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
"Over two million people make the trip every year to Mecca," Ezra, who was appointed Minster of Tourism earlier this month, told Anglo File. "There's a lot of crowding, the excitement is huge, and there's no reason that it shouldn't be the same thing in Jerusalem."
As part of the projected program, Christian pilgrims who visit sites such as the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Nazareth and Bethlehem, will be granted a certificate acknowledging their holy pilgrimage. "The idea is to create an appetite for future Christian pilgrims to continue visiting," the Minister added.
Since initiating the project, Ezra says that he has spoken to Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna. Schoenborn, says Ezra, was excited about the idea, but remained concerned about its security implications.
Currently, organized groups of both Christians and Jews are granted Ministry certificates appointing them "ambassadors of good will." The new plan, however, which will be launched in the coming months, will be designed specifically for Christian tourists. The Minister hasn't yet approached other religious organizations to present the idea formally, but as his spokesperson Golan Yossifon explained earlier this week, "he's just two weeks on the job, give him time."
In 2000, 2.67 million tourists arrived in Israel, some 50 percent of whom were Christian. Last year, only 30 percent of the estimated 1.06 million tourists were Christian.
Petra Held, the director of the Jerusalem-based Ecumenical Research Institute, which includes more than 40 Christian denominations in Israel, said that she welcomed the new initiative. "Christians have been doing pilgrimages to the Holy Land since the 5th century," she said. "The idea that every good Christian visit Jerusalem at least once during their lifetime is an important one and it's something that most Christians live up to."
Held added, however, that she was opposed to the suggestion that it is a "Muslim imitation."