YOU ARE THE PILGRIM

When one travels to the Holy land,  he cannot use the same criteria for traveling to any other part of the world. The simple reason is that a visit there is not only a vacation or a sightseeing tour but a pilgrimage.

 

A pilgrimage to the Holy Land is also very different from other pilgrimage sites, such as Rome, Greece, Lourds, or Ireland. In the Holy Land, one actually has the opportunity to walk in the very land the Lord started every succeeding Apostolic Mission and Apparition. Comparing it to other sites undermines the Lord’s choice of the land!

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Before deciding to drop the Holy Land as the destination of your next pilgrimage,  be well informed about Middle East history but above all its geography, especially Israel/Palestine.

 

You do not stop going to LA because you hear of trouble in East LA, for example. The news media should not be your only source of information.

 

Trust in RTEP and its connections in Israel. Your safety is our concern and our source of income.

 

If you booked a pilgrimage and think you should cancel for safety concerns, remember that hundreds of people, especially Christians, will be affected by your misinformed decision.

 

RTEP is better equipped with up-to-date information. WE will cancel any tour and refund all deposits if we think there is any danger!

 

Most importantly, unless there is outright war, there is no reason why a pilgrimage should not materialize or be canceled based on security concerns!

 

The security incidents with Gaza & the Palestinian Territories are HIGHLY LOCALISED INCIDENTS. They are unfortunate “daily confrontations” and do not really alarm the locals. To them, these security incidents are nothing less and nothing more than a daily accident on the highway or a tragic ambush in a dark alley somewhere!

 

In 2017, a record 3 million tourists visited Israel. In 2018, the record chattered with 4 million tourists. And again, by year-end 2019, the record was chattered by 4.55 million visitors. 

 

"The leading source countries for incoming tourism between January and November 2019 were the United States, with almost 890,000 visitors, followed by France (338,200), Russia (296,000), Germany (268,900) and Britain (218,700)." (Jerusalem Post, DEC 29, 2019)