Palestinian tourism: a period of transition

Abstract

This research is designed to investigate the status of tourism in the parks of Wade Al‐Badan, which is located near the city of Nablus, in the West Bank, during the period of political transition. Socio‐economic, behavioral and spatial variables of visitors are examined and compared. The on‐site survey was conducted on the last Friday of July 2000, starting at 1.00 p.m. and ending at 7.00 p.m. The results indicate that the majority of the visitors came from the West Bank. The findings suggest that tourism will be a major economic sector in Palestine, which lacks tourism facilities. Better spatial management of attractive tourism sites is also needed, but the Israeli security policies create barriers against the execution of Palestinian development plans. This study also reveals that it has managerial and policy implications in terms of preparation for growth and tourism promotion.

Palestine's International Visitors Barriers: Case Studies of Bethlehem and Ramallah

“…Palestine is situated at the center of the Middle East, which is southwest of Asia and east of the Mediterranean basin (Figure ). It is immediately surrounded by three continents: Europe, Africa and Asia (PECDAR, ; Al‐Rimmawi, ). The land area of pre‐historic Palestine covered about 10 435 sq mi; however, 78% of this area has been under the domination of Israel since the war in 1948.…”

“…Twenty years later, in 1987, the first Palestinian uprising called first ‘intifada’ against the Israeli occupation was launched (Giacaman et al , ). In 1993, an invitation was made by Washington to end the Palestinian uprising; Palestinian Authority (PA) began taking part in the partial administration of some of the territories (Al‐Rimmawi, ). The peace process was started in 1993 between PA and Israel (Isaac and Platenkamp, ).…”

“…Isaac (, p. 579) assert that ‘since the beginning of the twentieth century Palestine has seen complicated changes in its political circumstances, most notably the creation of Israel in 1948 and the 1967 war, where Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip’. PA has controlled parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip called Palestinian territories since the beginning of the Oslo Accords in 1993 (Al‐Rimmawi, ). Recently, Palestine was not recognized as an autonomous and sovereign country (Pattullo and Minelli, ; Sauders, ).…”

“…Since the last 15 years, the tourism development of Palestine in general and of Bethlehem and Ramallah in particular are facing crucial and difficulties situations (Isaac, ). The tourism development was started since the PA and Israel signed the peace process in 1993 (Al‐Rimmawi, ; Isaac, ). The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA) took the responsibility for carrying out tourism development strategies through the promotion of policies appropriate to both local and international tourists.…”

The Impact of Religious Tourism in the Formation of a Peaceful and Moderate Society

“…This affects so many human changes across religions and nations because of the emergence of evidence of political, not religious relations, as in the example of Palestinian society in Israel, where Palestinians enjoy their religious tourism in the same place as Israel which is hostile. It is the growth of religious tourism that provides tolerance for both mutually beneficial [2]. An interesting thing that happened in cultural cultivation different in spiritual understanding in Mexico made diversity in pluralism between Catholics as a new religion accommodating local culture having a local scope limited to the Maya peninsula because of historical processes related to Mayan culture.…”