It could be Christmas 2021 before the Holy Land starts to get back on its feet, Friends of the Holy Land has warned.
Christmas has been "very hard" for people in the region after Covid-19 wiped out the tourism and pilgrimage industry that it so heavily relies on.
What should have been one of the busiest times of the year for Bethlehem was reduced to only a few festivities watched on by a handful of locals.
"The sad thing about all this is the timing of the crisis. It erupted just before Easter, one of the biggest tourist seasons for the area," says Brendan Metcalfe, Executive Director of Friends of the Holy Land.
"So Easter 2020 didn't happen and now Christmas hasn't happened. If Easter doesn't happen again in 2021, then it may well be that we don't see tourists returning to Bethlehem until next Christmas, and that will be tragic."
The pandemic has left most people in the tourism and pilgrimage industry out of work, from tour guides and bus drivers, to hotel owners, restauranteurs, and souvenir shop owners. Then there are countless others in the supply chain, including the hundreds of local craftsmen who supply the souvenir shops that have been shuttered since the start of the pandemic.
Many people in the industry are Christians, and Friends of the Holy Land has been raising funds to support them throughout the year, including this Christmas through its Silent Nights in Bethlehem campaign which has so far raised over £100,000.
The money raised has gone on emergency grants to help local Christians buy medicine - which isn't free in this part of the world - food, gas for cooking and heating, or whatever other basic necessities they may be in need of.
This Christmas stands in stark contrast to how things looked at the end of 2019, says Brendan. This time last year, Bethlehem was coming to the end of a bumper year for tourism, with over three million tourists visiting throughout 2019.
That meant there was a lot of optimism, says Brendan. Not only were people looking forward to welcoming more tourists this year, they were also spending money, investing in improvements to their hotels or restaurants, or opening new ones.
Read the complete article here.
