NEW YORK -- Solidarity missions to Israel is not a particularly
lucrative segment, but for Meir Weingarten, it's become his bread
and butter.
"It's the only way for us to exist right now," said Weingarten,
president and owner of Ariel Tours, based here. Once a "very small
percentage" of Weingarten's Israel-focused business, the niche now
constitutes 70% to 75%.
A segment dominated by nonprofit organizations, it is
price-sensitive and seldom involves travel agents. When it does, it
affords little opportunity for commissions or mark-up, he said.
"We take a cut so we can work with the agent," noted Weingarten,
whose business formerly comprised FITs booked entirely through
agents.
The solidarity market, however, has grown as a result of the
drop in general tourism to Israel, Weingarten said.
"Many Jewish groups and congregations soon realized it was
incumbent on them to go to Israel for even a few days, show
solidarity, encourage the public and to put their money where their
mouth is," he said. "People come back from these trips feeling
encouraged that they did something important."
Marilyn Marcus, an Israel specialist with Travel in Style,
Livingston, N.J., works the niche with Ariel Tours. She arranged
solidarity departures for last October, January and April and is
sending another in September.
Another solidarity tour, organized by Sara Chay, owner of
Jerusalem Tours International in Columbus, Ohio, is set to include
the dedication of two ambulances, purchased with local fund-raising
monies, for Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red
Cross.
"The trip is a standard, seven-night trip to Israel, but it has
a purpose behind it," Chay said.
The trip is scheduled for Nov. 12 to 21 and is priced at $1,799
per person from New York (Kennedy). The price includes roundtrip
air, deluxe hotel accommodations, touring and breakfast and dinner
daily.
Chay's tour is one of the rare solidarity missions
commissionable at 10%. Sites visited will include the Beit Shean
archaeological site and the Ayalon Institute Museum outside Tel
Aviv.
In addition to guided tours, Chay said, "there will be a
component of reaching out to the Israeli people, hearing their
stories and [empathizing with] their pain, which in a typical tour,
you don't have."
That "reaching out" aspect of the trip may be especially
poignant in Kfar-Saba, the community to which the ambulances will
be donated.
Forty people have signed up for Chay's tour, which Michael Chen,
director of the Israel Government Tourism Office in Chicago, said
"shows how people feel about Israel, that they want to go there and
they're not [too] afraid to travel."
Book it: Solidarity Travel
Ariel Tours
Phone: (800) 262-1818 or (718) 633-7900
E-mail:[email protected]
Web:www.arieltours.com
Israel Ministry of Tourism, North America
Phone: (888) 77-ISRAEL or (212) 499-5660
E-mail:[email protected]
Web:www.goisrael.com
Jerusalem Tours International
Phone: (888) 373-8687 or (614) 236-3267
E-mail:[email protected]
Web:www.jerusalemtours.com