Following pressure from the tour guides and a letter from Haaretz, the Jerusalem Development Authority agrees to keep the Shabbat tours 'in a format appropriate for the winter months'
The Jerusalem Development Authority announced the cancellation of its free-of-charge Shabbat tours project, which have attracted dozens of tourists per week since its launch over 50 years ago, before reversing the decision on Thursday.
The announcement, sent last week to dozens of tour guides who conduct the Saturday tours, stated that the project would end on November 1, 2022. The guides responded in a letter to the Development Authority, and following a request from Haaretz, the authority declared on Wednesday that from November 1, it would “launch the tours in a format appropriate for the winter months, accompanied by a wide-scale marketing campaign.”
The guides reported that the main justification for the cancellation by the Development Authority, which is a joint agency of the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality, was that the tours do not encourage hotel stays in Jerusalem.
Last week, they sent a letter to the CEO of the authority, Eyal Haimovsky, stating that the decision to cancel the Shabbat tours, “with the claim that they don’t encourage sleeping in Jerusalem, ignores their economic contribution to the city, because they are an important element in conducting cultural events on Saturday in Jerusalem, and their cultural value which is invaluable – bestowing the magnificent history of the city on the broader public.”
The guides add that the entry of tourists on Shabbat in the capital has major economic benefits: the tourists eat in restaurants, pay for parking and some even stay in hotels. They asked not to cancel “this important project, and to even develop and advertise it.”
Efrat Sinai, a tour guide, told Haaretz that “these tours have great potential, and it is a shame that the Development Authority does not develop them even more, instead of canceling them. Every Shabbat we have dozens of people who participate in the tours all around Jerusalem, and not just in the Old City, but for example in the neighborhoods of Ein Karem, Talbieh, Rehavia, Katamon and elsewhere. These are unique tours, and are held for free.”
Eldad Brin, who has conducted tours on Shabbat for a-year-and-a-half, said a lot of tourists come from outside the city to Jerusalem on Saturdays because of these tours: “People on tours are exposed to the special places of Jerusalem, the less banal ones, not just the Kotel and the zoo. A lot of guides did it not because of the money, but because of their love for guiding.”
As for the authority’s claim that the project does not encourage hotel stays in the capital, Brin said: “Maybe people who participate in the tours won’t sleep in Jerusalem, but they certainly spend a few hours there, eat in restaurants, pay for parking, and ride in taxis. Everything that brings in money for the city. This project doesn’t cost a lot, but it’s worth its weight in gold.”
Jerusalem deputy mayor Yosi Havilio, who serves as a member of the board of the Jerusalem Development Authority, explains: “Cancelling the activities held on Shabbat – provides the local public and incoming tourism the message that in the capital of Israel there isn’t and will not be anything to look for on weekends. If they cancel the activities that do not include the desecration of the Sabbath, then what about those that do?”
“The cost of the tours is quite trivial compared to the budget of the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Jerusalem municipality, but their contribution to the city is great,” Havilio added.