Traveling on Faith

Some 600,000 Americans travel oversees each year for religious purposes, and 50,000 churches play host to travel programs. The faith-based travel and cruise industry a $1 billion industry in the U.S. ($18 billion worldwide) is a part of the overall $50 billion religious consumer market.

While leisure travel dropped in the years following Sept. 11, faith-based travel continued to grow. In fact, some call religious travel one of the fastest-growing and lucrative travel markets.

A recent survey from the Travel Industry Association (TIA) found that 25 percent of those polled said they were interested in taking a spiritual vacation, with 12 percent saying they were more interested now then they were five years ago.

While travelers often go to well-known spots in Europe, Israel and India, the faith-based market is its own unique brand.

“[Religious travel] is not a vacation. When you come back from a pilgrimage, you want to take a vacation to relax religious travel is part of a journey,” said Ronen Paldi, president of Ya’lla Tours, which offers Judeo-Christian-based travel to biblical countries like Israel, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan.

It’s also an emotional experience.

“You don’t just say, ‘I visited Jerusalem,’” Paldi said. “You say, ‘I stood on top of the Mount of Olives where Jesus saw Jerusalem.’”

While religious travel is as old as religion itself, in modern times most trips are still organized by churches and other religious groups.

“The business has been going on for many years it’s nothing new,” said Mike Schields, director of group sales and emerging markets for the Globus Family of Brands, “but the companies that have been offering it are typically very small and very niche.”

But that’s beginning to change. A recent National Tour Association survey found that nearly one-third of NTA tour operators now offer religious packages and recently heavy-hitter Globus made its faith-based debut.

“We started to see incredible trends toward Christian-based consumer products, including music and movies,” Schields said.

While 5 percent of total consumer products are faith-based, travel is only 2 percent of the total travel expenditures in North America.

“We’re saying, ‘Where’s the other 3 percent?’ Why can’t faith-based travel be 5 percent of the total vacation market like it is with other consumer products?’” Schields asked.

Since beginning its religious division in 2004, Globus has seen a 650 percent increase in clients taking religious vacations. The tour operator now dedicates a team of 25 worldwide, including 15 tour directors, to religious vacations.

Globus, which specializes in Catholic and Protestant tours, also offers clients a different kind of religious experience.

“Historically, the pilgrimage market has been very price sensitive, very driven toward seniors and very intensely faith-based focused with masses everyday, nonstop shrine visits and modest accommodations,” Schields said. “Why does faith and comfort have to be mutually exclusive?”

Globus claims to offer travelers experiences rich in faith and education and also steeped in top-notch service. Clients balance visits to spiritual sites with free time and secular attractions like shopping, dining and entertainment. These less-intensive trips paired with first-class accommodations have also attracted a younger audience.

In fact, a recent TIA survey showed that the appeal of spiritual vacations spans different age ranges one-third of each age group (18-34 years old, 35-54 and over 55) expressed interest in faith-based travel.

Additionally, more parents and grandparents are taking children along for the ride.

To enhance the experience for younger travelers, tour operators across the board are offering activities for kids, like Ya’lla’s rafting trip on the Jordan River.

New for 2007

This year, clients of all ages looking for faith-based tours will find a variety of destinations and new tours to choose from.

The vast majority of the population in the U.S. and Canada is Christian, so the majority of larger U.S. tour operators target this faith.

For clients looking to explore other religions, Incredible India offers spiritual journeys and pilgrimages based on Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and more. And as India becomes an increasingly popular tourism hot spot, this product will likely grow.

Paldi also sees another destination on the rise.

“Turkey is coming back dramatically,” he said. “Many people don’t realize that 75 percent of the New Testament occurs in Turkey.”

In addition to nonstop flights on Delta and Turkish airlines, “Turkey is very competitive in its pricing because it still maneuvers U.S. dollars instead of the euro,” Paldi added.

Faith-based travel is also taking to the high seas.

Cruise With a Cause, a Christian charter commissionable to travel agents, expects 2,500 passengers on this year’s cruise about 200 more passengers than last year.

“Our charter in June is the only faith-based charter Vacation.com offers their agents,” said Honnie Korngold, president of Christian Travel Finder, an agency dedicated to mostly Protestant faith-based travel.

Since starting the Cruise With a Cause promotion “the phone has been ringing off the hook,” she added.

Along with popular Globus faith-based tours including Classic Shrines of Italy, Footsteps of Apostle Paul, Footsteps of Pope John Paul II & Poland Heritage the company has several new products for 2007.

Journey through the Bible: Egypt and Jordan takes clients through Egypt, Mount Sinai (where Moses received the Ten Commandments) and the Dead Sea. The 11-day journey starts at $1,699, land-only.

The nine-day Christian England & the World of C.S. Lewis tour, from $1,929, land-only, traverses England, following the life of the famed author. Grand Catholic Italy takes clients on a religious sightseeing tour of Italy, from $1,849, land-only.

The 10-day Lourdes & Shrines of France takes travelers on a tour of France’s top religious sites, from $1,799, land-only.

IsramWorld is offering a new twist on many of its tours to 55 destinations worldwide, said regional sales manager Zehava Bitton. This year, the company is featuring new kosher tours.

“In each of our brochures, we will offer a kosher product to destinations like China and Argentina and more,” Bitton said.

In addition, for clients not interested in group travel, IsramWorld offers a Christian-based tour of Israel via private car that accommodates up to 10 people.

For deep-pocketed clients looking to explore multiple faiths, TCS Expeditions will offer the first-ever, private-jet journey exploring five great faiths of the world: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. The Great Faiths journey from $42,950, double gets under way on March 18, with travel through nine countries in 23 days, including Israel, India, Japan, Tibet, Ethiopia, Egypt, Armenia and Turkey.

Travelers stay at well-appointed accommodations, like the Four Seasons Giza in Cairo, and National Geographic Traveler recently named the tour as one of the best in its “Tours of a Lifetime: 50 of the World’s Best.”