www.youtube.com/user/HolyLandVisit?feature=mhee Izraeli Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov: „YouTube has turned into a central tool for the tourism industry. The positive reaction to the channel proves the significant interest among the Christian community regarding Izrael.”
The Ministry of Tourism’s Christian YouTube channel continues to attract millions of viewers from around the world. Launched at the end of 2011, the channel crossed the 1.5 million mark this week, averaging 5,500 views per day. The Ministry of Tourism views the channel as an important platform in exposing Israel to the world and is part of a variety of social media platforms used over recent years to promote tourism to Israel.
The channel,
www.youtube.com/user/HolyLandVisit?feature=mhee features videos in several languages including English, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, Polish and more. Videos show community leaders and pilgrims telling about their unique and deep spiritual experiences from Israel. There are also videos of Christian holy sites and holiday themed events that are unique to Israel.
The channel was created by the Ministry of Tourism’s Religious Desk which is primarily dedicated toward attracting and encouraging Christian tourism to Israel. Marketing activities for Christian tourism is one of the Ministry of Tourism’s main programs. In 2011, NIS 60 million was invested in reaching out to Christian communities abroad, with a similar amount being invested again this year.
Another example of activities promoted by the Ministry of Tourism directed toward the Christian market is Google’s „Street View” which enables a 360 degree angle virtual tour of three central cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. Through „Street View” viewers from around the world can take tours from their computer of the Via Dolorosa, the Church of Holy Sepulcher, Mount of Olives, and other sites holy to the Christian faith. The Ministry of Tourism is the first to use the application in Israel, which can be found here:
www.holyland-pilgrimage.org/. During the first month, the site registered close to 50,000 views.
Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov: „YouTube has turned into a central tool for the tourism industry. The positive reaction to the channel proves the significant interest among the Christian community regarding Israel. The Ministry of Tourism intends to increase the use of new media due to their effectiveness. Christian tourism to Israel is a targeted audience on which the Ministry of Tourism is focusing its efforts. The YouTube channel managed by the Ministry of Tourism will help spread the messages and depict the unique spiritual experience of a visit to the Holy Land.”
