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Onward, Christian tourists
American Jewish immigrant launches Travelujah, a website for a new wave of Christian
pilgrims who want to ditch the tour-group scene.
By Allison Kaplan Sommer | Jun.22, 2012 | 5:22 AM
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Elisa Moed, originally from Detroit, immigrated to Israel in 2005. Photo by Courtesy
A phone call from the Vatican isn't a typical source of inspiration for an
American Jewish immigrant to Israel. But for Elisa Moed, it was a call
from the Israeli representative of the Holy See that sparked her to create
the website Travelujah - an Internet venture aimed at Christian tourists
planning a visit to the Holy Land.
With years of experience as a corporate consultant specializing in new and
emerging tourist destinations, Moed - a Detroit native now in her 40s - got
the call six months after she moved to Ra'anana in 2005. The Catholic
Church owned a piece of land in the Galilee and was interested in building
a guesthouse there, and it wanted to hire Moed as a consultant to research
its commercial potential.
As Moed worked on the project, delving into the topic of Christian tourism
to Israel and the surrounding destinations that
comprise "the Holy Land," two things became clear.
First, she saw that the potential for dramatically
increasing the number of Christians visiting the region
was tremendous. Second, she understood from her
research that there was a real need for a single,
comprehensive, updated source of information on the
web where potential Christian pilgrims could find and
share information necessary to make the trip.
"I thought that if I was having trouble navigating so
many websites in order to find the relevant
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2. information I wanted, I could only imagine how
frustrating it would be for an individual or a pastor
living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was interested in
planning their own Holy Land tour," says Moed.
"That's when I got the idea of creating a one-stop shop
for dedicated Christian resources for people like them."
Travelujah is a content-oriented site focused
exclusively on Christian tourism to the Holy Land.
What sets the three-year-old site apart from other
online destinations, according to Moed, is her decision
to make it as interactive as possible, and her aim to
create a "dynamic community" of travelers who can get
advice and tips not only from travel operators and
experts, but from each other.
This particular segment of tourists, according to Moed, is made up of
extremely careful shoppers. "Coming to Israel on a faith-based journey is
not an impulsive purchase. It is something people dream about for years
and they want to plan their experience carefully," she says.
A wiry, athletic mother of four, Moed lives with a foot in two worlds. After
seven years in Ra'anana, she and her family are well-absorbed into
mainstream Jewish suburban life in Israel. But she feels just as
comfortable interacting with Christians, she says, easily speaking their
language as she discusses how they "share blessings," "experience
fellowship" and "feel God's spirit."
Moed's ability to navigate between cultures began early. Growing up in
Detroit, there were few Jews in her school, she says, and she celebrated
Christmas and Easter at her friends' homes. Yet her family was deeply
Jewish and Zionist.
It was while traveling in Israel that Moed first became inspired to go into
tourism. After living and working in Israel after college, she decided to
return to the United States to get a master's degree in the hospitality
industry, with an eye toward moving back to Israel and working in hotels.
But then she began her international consulting career, which took her to
Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Finally, "20 years later than I planned,"
she laughs, she made the move to Israel.
With her experience, it didn't take much research for her to see that Israel
"hasn't scratched the surface" of its ability to develop the Christian market
for tourism. There are 1.5 billion Christians worldwide and only a tiny
fraction of them have ever made a pilgrimage, according to Moed.
Over the last several years, faith-based travel to destinations worldwide,
including Israel, has grown significantly, she says. In 2004, Israel
welcomed 440,000 Christian tourists, Moed says, and by 2011, 2.3 million
Christians visited Israel, representing an annual growth rate of more than
26 percent. The Internet has also multiplied the number of Christians
traveling independently to the Holy Land. And these independent
travelers, says Moed, are her target audience for Travelujah. Users can use
the site to book a full tour or several day-trips, and it has a reservations
system for 36 Christian-run guesthouses across the country. Referral fees
for these services, together with advertising, support the business.
David Parsons, media director of the International Christian Embassy in
Jerusalem, notes that until Travelujah came on the scene, the majority of
Christian tourism sites catered to the Catholic and Orthodox market, with
pictures of ornate churches and audio clips of Gregorian chants and
hymns. "This wouldn't sell to the Evangelical market, which has the
greatest growth potential for tourism to Israel these days," Parsons says.
"Elisa is doing a good job of presenting a site that welcomes Catholics,
Orthodox and Evangelicals."
Travelujah encourages its users to create blogs where visitors can share
their experiences. During the Feast of Tabernacles celebrations, for
example, pilgrims posted photos and reports to friends and family back
home. "This," Moed says, "adds value to their visit and helps us spread the
word and attract visitors for the next year's celebration."
"People are looking for something beyond the traditional pilgrimage," she
adds, "so it really helps them when other pilgrims describe their trips and
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3. COMMENTS
offer advice."
David Nekrutman, executive director of the Center for Jewish Christian
Understanding and Cooperation, an Orthodox Jewish organization that
promotes outreach to Christians, says the site's most valuable
contributions are its "insider's view" of what to expect from certain sites,
and its social media aspects which offer suggestions for "outside-the-box"
activities - particularly those that include opportunities to meet Israelis.
"Christian tourism in its current form is lacking in opportunities for
interaction," Nekrutman notes. "People can come and visit the land and
not relate to the people. The website sends the message that Israel is a
vibrant society and ... offers them the opportunity to learn how to meet the
people and get more than the typical template tour."
So what exactly is standing in the way of the millions of potential Christian
pilgrims of various denominations? The biggest roadblock, Moed says, is
expense, followed by security concerns and nervousness regarding the
logistics of moving between Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and
Jordan. She addresses all of these issues on Travelujah, and works in
cooperation with vendors in various countries to smooth the way for
Christian tourists. This, she emphasizes, benefits Israel as much as it does
Palestinians: If Christian pilgrims can't get the full Holy Land experience,
they likely aren't going to come at all, she says.
"Faith tourism spurs cooperation between Israel and its neighbors," Moed
says. "We must work together to satisfy the needs of Christian travelers
seeking to visit the Holy Land and see biblical sites in Israel, the
Palestinian territories, Jordan and Egypt. Creating a successful tourism
strategy requires cooperation."
With all due respect to campaigns marketing Israel as a pleasure
destination, Moed says she firmly believes that sun and fun are not the
country's greatest assets if it truly wants to dramatically develop its
tourism industry. "Look, Christians are not visiting because of our
beautiful beaches," she says. "There are many nice beaches in many other
countries that are a lot more affordable. Our unique selling point as a
destination is our biblical history, that this is the land of our forefathers;
the fact that this is where Jesus spent his lifetime. It's something no other
country in the world can claim. If you want to really understand the roots
of Christianity and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, you have to come to
Israel. That's where we stand out."
Travelujah can be visited at www.travelujah.com
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