Abstract
Palestine, the home of the world’s three major religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Hence, is consideredas the first center of tourism due to the coming of these three major world faiths flocking to Palestine to engagein sacred pilgrimages. Some of these sites which are frequently visited are Jerusalem, Nazareth, Jericho,Bethlehem and Hebron. Palestine was for many centuries a destination of pilgrims and visitors of Muslims andChristians from all over the world. Unfortunately, Palestine after the 1948 War fell under the Israeli Occupationand was exposed to many catastrophes up until this time; all this led to the instability and the decrease in thenumber of tourists to Palestine; which had become a dangerous area which reduced the flow of tourism ingeneral. At the same time, came the peace negotiations between the PLO (Palestinian liberation organization)and Israel in Oslo which was signed in Washington in 1993. In this period there was an economic recovery andtourism in the Palestinian Territories, especially in the West Bank and Gaza Strip started to once again flourish.The Primary purpose of this paper is to show the significance of the religious tourism in Palestine and influenceof conflict on Palestinian tourism; also indicated which factors impacts on Palestinian tourism as well.This paper concludes that Palestine is unique, due to its history, heritage, culture, geographic location,environment and religions. This study suggests to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Palestine to createnew forms to protect the Islamic and Christian places in Palestine as well as to encourage more tourists to visit.Peace is considered as a vital strategy for enhancing the Palestinian tourism industry.
Highlights
In modern history, Palestine over the years has been subjected to many disasters and tragedies, in the year 1948 (The Catastrophe), the Jewish Zionists Occupied Palestinian cities and destroyed homes and committed numerous massacres in Palestinian cities and villages and the displacement scattered many of the people of Palestine to various areas, and even outside Palestine to the neighboring countries
There was an increase in the problems and downturns in these economies. In another issue when the war in Croatia began in 1991 there was a decline almost 5 billion US Dollars in GDP only from tourism caused by the effects of the war and crisis, declined the number of visitors to Croatia approximately 75% and the spending in tourism sector arrived to 77% a decline (Currie et al, 2004). 5.2 Impact of Conflict on Palestinian Tourism This part focuses on the challenges facing tourism industry in Palestine, especially West Bank and Gaza strip
The tourism in Palestine is major economic sector, it presents to the tourists who are looking for a different experience of the inventory of cultural and natural heritage of Palestine as well
Summary
Palestine over the years has been subjected to many disasters and tragedies, in the year 1948 (The Catastrophe), the Jewish Zionists Occupied Palestinian cities and destroyed homes and committed numerous massacres in Palestinian cities and villages and the displacement scattered many of the people of Palestine to various areas, and even outside Palestine to the neighboring countries. Some researchers have discussed the Israelis’ offensive actions against Palestinian tourism sector (Khano et al, 1997; Sizer, 1999; Al-Rimmawi, 2003; ATG, 2005; Issac, 2010) They have focused on the inbound tourism and pilgrim’s journeys, coming into Palestine and staying for few hours only. These factors are: 5.2.1 Factors Related to Political Obstacles Most researchers agree on a fact that the main barrier to Palestinian tourism is the political factors, represented by Israeli occupation (Sizer, 1999; ATG, 2005; Hammad & Hammad, 2008; Isaac, 2010; Pattullo & Minelli, 2006) It was stated by Sizer (1999) who worked as Briton tourist operator, that difficulties face UK travelers. Maintenance and renovation after the five years intifada
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