Church of nativity – आवारा मुसाफिर

Bethlehem welcomes Christmas tourists after pandemic lull

December 16, 2022761 Views

Business is bouncing back in Bethlehem after two years in the doldrums during the coronavirus pandemic, lifting spirits in the traditional birthplace of Jesus ahead of the Christmas holiday. Streets are bustling with tour groups. Hotels are fully booked, and months of deadly Israeli-Palestinian fighting appears to be having little effect on the vital tourism industry. An Ethiopian woman and her child visit the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/ Mahmoud Illean) Elias Arja, head of the Bethlehem hotel association, said that tourists are hungry to visit the Holy Land’s religious sites after suffering through lockdowns and travel restrictions in recent years. He ex...

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Bethlehem celebrates muted Christmas with few pilgrims to bring cheer

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 25, 2021778 Views

The bells of Bethlehem rang out under grey skies on Christmas morning across streets whose closed pastel or green shutters were like an Advent calendar that nobody had turned up to open. Shopkeepers and hotel owners in the Palestinian city reported far lower business than the years before coronavirus closures halted the arrival of wealthy foreign tourists, devastating the economy of the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Worshipers attend Christmas morning mass at Saint Catherine's Church, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma In Manger Square, hundreds of Christians - mostly those who live, work or study in Israel and the occupied West Bank - gathered near the tree and crib to sing carols and bring s...

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Hoping Omicron won’t wreck Christmas, Bethlehem lights up tree

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 5, 2021236 Views

Residents lit up a giant Christmas tree outside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity on Saturday, hoping that a new coronavirus variant doesn't ruin another holiday season in the traditional birthplace of Jesus. The Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was all but closed last Christmas, losing its peak tourist season to the pandemic. Palestinians light a Christmas tree at Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma This December has seen Israel shut out foreign travellers for 14 days to try to prevent the Omicron variant taking hold, and the hope is that the ban will end as scheduled, in time for Christmas travel. In its last pre-pandemic winter, in 2019/20, Bethlehem hosted ...