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Thousands Of Muslims Visit Israel Despite Violence
WASHINGTON & CAIRO, Feb 13 (IslamOnline) - Around 100,000 Muslim tourists visited Israel last year despite a deadlocked Middle East peace process and a five-month old Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation in Palestinian territories, an Israeli daily reported Tuesday.
According to the director of the Statistics and Data Bank Department at the Israeli Tourism Ministry, Esther Sultan, 100,000 Muslims came to the Jewish state disregarding deteriorating security in the occupied territories, Haartez newspapers said.
The newspaper quoted a study conducted at the University of Haifa designed to assess Muslim tourism potential in Israel and determine any special needs this segment of the tourist market required.
The study found that despite escalating tensions in the region, a large number of Muslims were visiting the country, and that "the political and security situation had little bearing on Muslims deciding to visit Israel, despite the fact that many Muslim tourists come from pro-Arab countries with no diplomatic ties with Israel."
The study said that Muslim tourists fitted into three main categories - pilgrims, cultural tourists, and visitors to friends and family.
About 60% of pilgrims were reported to be from middle to lower level income families. Israeli researchers suggested that by employing proper marketing tactics, Israel could host pilgrims who would view the country as a legitimate and reasonably priced destination.
Tourism from Turkey, a Muslim country with warm relations and military ties with the Jewish state, was defined mainly as cultural Muslim tourism, and pilgrims from Southeast Asia and Africa, were revealed as relatively big spenders who make significant contributions to the Israeli tourist industry.
The study also indicated that, in general, Muslim pilgrims have at least had high-school education and a good percentage of cultural tourists were university graduates.
Pilgrims more often came on a one time only trip whereas those who came to visit families were frequent visitors. Most of the tourists and pilgrims said that they enjoyed their trips.
The principle conclusion of the study was that the Muslim tourism segment of the market is of significant size and a potential contributor for Israeli tourist monies.
Researchers recommended the Tourism Ministry to direct specialized marketing pitches towards both secular and religion tourists, and organize attractive activities such as shopping and cultural and ethnic events keeping Muslim interests in mind.
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