tourism
Camino pilgrims help rural Spain’s emptying villages survive
By Giovanna Dell'orto — June 21, 2022
TERRADILLOS DE LOS TEMPLARIOS, Spain (AP) — Terradillos de los Templarios, and dozens of villages like it, were built to host medieval pilgrims. Today’s Camino travelers are saving them from disappearing.
Vatican Museums used to be an overcrowded ‘hell,’ say tour guides. COVID-19 may change that.
By Claire Giangravé — July 8, 2020
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Guides hope socially distanced tourism will bring an end to overcrowding at Vatican attractions.
App for the blind is the latest in Jerusalem’s effort to make holy sites accessible
By Michele Chabin — June 11, 2019
JERUSALEM (RNS) — In recent months, pedestrian walkways through the oldest parts of the city have been reworked to make them wheelchair-accessible, and new technology is bringing holy sites to life for everyone.
South Korea courts Muslims to fill tourism gap
By Miranda Mazariegos — November 2, 2018
SEOUL, South Korea (RNS) — After a sharp decline in Chinese visitors, South Korea is adding halal restaurants and providing prayer rooms in a government-led effort to attract more Muslim tourists.
In Kenya, locals debate a boom in witch doctor tourism
By Tonny Onyulo — October 10, 2018
MOMBASA, Kenya (RNS) — Tourists normally come for snorkeling and lounging on sun-splashed beaches, but lately many come to seek the counsel of witch doctors about illnesses, runs of bad luck or bad marriages.
No veil, no visa? Saudi Arabia may ease rules for tourists
By Yonat Shimron — August 1, 2017
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia plans to build a 'semi-autonomous' visa-free travel destination along its northwestern Red Sea coast where restrictions on women's dress and other conservative norms could be waived.
US Catholic bishops committee dismayed over Trump’s new direction on Cuba
By Lauren Markoe — June 20, 2017
(RNS) The U.S. Catholic bishops want President Trump to consider 'ordinary Cubans' as he scales back on what he calls a one-sided deal with the island nation.
Jerusalem home tourism initiative opens a window to different religious groups, cultures
By Yonat Shimron — March 15, 2017
(RNS) A new initiative helps women, especially those from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, earn an income.
Amid Middle East gloom, Christmas brings some cheer in Bethlehem
By Jerome Socolovsky — December 19, 2016
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - This Christmas, for once, Bethlehem really can boast again that there is no room at the inn, as relative calm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank brings pilgrims and tourists flocking to the town of Jesus's birth.
Gulf tourism frenzy in Bosnia polarizes locals
By Jerome Socolovsky — August 22, 2016
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina -- In a secular country where many Muslims drink alcohol and wear European-style clothing, the arrival of a Saudi-built mall where no alcohol is sold and the sight of burqas and traditional Arab robes is worrying for some.
Japan’s ancient temples bid for foreign tourists as Japanese lose interest
By Reuters — January 1, 2016
A remote monastery that once attracted Steve Jobs's attention now hopes construction of a nearby hotel could encourage international visitors.
More than tourism: Holy Land trips advance peacemaking mission
By Heidi Thompson — September 29, 2015
A MEJDI trip might include a visit to Jesus’ birthplace of Bethlehem -- but also a meeting with an imam to talk about Jerusalem’s importance to Islam, and a Shabbat meal with an Orthodox Jewish family.
Rumi followers fight to keep Turks from cashing in on mystic’s legacy
By Michael Kaplan — January 14, 2015
ISTANBUL (RNS) Some of Rumi's followers believe the 13th-century mystic's whirling dervish ceremonies have been wrongly appropriated for profit.
Jordan welcomes throngs of tourists at site where believers say Jesus was baptized
By Dale Hanson Bourke — January 5, 2015
AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) While Israel has long claimed that Jesus was baptized on the Israeli side of the river, increasingly, scholars are lining up to support archaeological research showing the baptism site is actually in Jordan.
Germany publishes guide aimed at Jewish tourists
By Lauren Markoe — March 21, 2014
(RNS) An increasing number of Jewish people are traveling to Germany.
Page 1 of 2
