Innovative tourism initiative unites three religions in Jerusalem

Written 26.04.2005 06:24 by Esther Russell Print Send article

A recent conference held in Jerusalem aimed to unite the region through its industries, especially clusters, in order to attract more businesses and tourists to the troubled region.

An Israeli initiative called StartUp Jerusalem was founded last year as a non-profit organization to create jobs in Israel's capital by increasing its attractiveness to businesses. StartUp Jerusalem is hoping to ease the plight of all the city's 680,000 residents (including 200,000 Christian and Muslim Arabs) who have been hit hard by four years of violence.

By identifying and focusing on Jerusalem's strengths — its diversity of three religions, its very strong universities, hospitals, biotech and science infrastructure and a high percentage of the population who speak many different languages fluently — the organization is following techniques developed by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, who is honorary chairman.

StartUp Jerusalem has selected three clusters that it will concentrate on: Health and Life Sciences; Outsourcing and Business Services; and Culture and Tourism.

During a recent one-day conference that brought together over 250 tour operators, cultural and educational institutions of different cultures and religions in the city to discuss ways to get tourism back on its feet.

"Startup Jerusalem is an organization that is trying to create a win-win situation for all the residents of the city — Arabs, Jews and Christians," he added.

The tourism conference was the opening salvo in the Tourism cluster's attempt to form a cohesive front among both the supply and demand sides of Jerusalem tourism, said the organization`s founder, Jerusalem city council member Nir Barkat.

According to StartUp founder Barkat, the conference and the results it hopes to parlay will mean a new type of business concept about Jerusalem that will benefit those involved in the tourism cluster, tourists and residents alike. "It's a clear win-win business oriented approach that crosses borders and sectors," he said.

For more information on Startup Jerusalem click here and find here another TCI article on this topic.