Deadline Approaching for Holy Land PDT

November 26, 2012

Tour operators wishing to join NTA’s Holy Land Product Development Trip have until Dec. 13 to register for the association’s first PDT focused on faith-based travel. The members-only trip, Feb. 10 through 22, includes workshops and opportunities for participants to network with local suppliers. Paul Larsen, who chairs NTA’s Faith Tourism Advisory Council, is ready to go.

"February can’t come soon enough," Larsen posted on NTA’s Facebook page. "I’m getting goose bumps thinking about standing on the Mount of Olives and looking across at the Golden Dome and Jerusalem with my NTA friends and partners in Israel and Jordan."

We’ve got plenty of information for you:
Itinerary
FAQs
Application

NTA President Lisa Simon talked about the Holy Land PDT while she was a guest on Travel Talk Radio with Sandy Dhuyvetter over the weekend. "Our faith-based initiative is … about fellowship and traveling together, which is what tour operators’ products are all about," she said.

Simon, who traveled to Jordan and Egypt soon after the Arab Spring began last year, responded to a question about the safety of travel in an oft-troubled region. "We see a lot of images on the news, [but] when you’re going with travel professionals and hosts, you can feel confident that you’ll have a good experience and stay out of harm’s way." Simon added that some 100,000 tourists are currently traveling undisturbed through Israel.

Click here to hear the interview, which covered many markets: youth, U.S. Hispanic, China and Cuba. (Simon’s interview begins at 25 minutes, 30 seconds.)