Courtesy Globus
Expanding Demographics
Several companies also reported seeing demographic growth firsthand.
“Everything has changed, from economics to age,” Ricart said. “The average age has dropped 15 to 20 years younger from 20 years ago. We’re now finding that many families in their 30s and 40s are traveling together on tours. We’re also seeing a lot more of the second generation: grandparents, aunts and uncles wanting to join them.”
Schields said demand is being driven by the expectations of younger people of faith, who want to have experiential connections with their spirituality.
“For younger people of faith, it’s not good enough to just hear about something in church,” he said. “They want to feel it, see it and connect closer to their faith. Young people are impressed with doing, not just hearing and seeing. We find that the whole tour industry is becoming more participatory.”
Some of this demographic change can also be linked to the growing influence of churches and church group leaders, who are bringing more people on faith-based trips. That phenomenon has played in Israel’s favor.
“Our strategy is to grow directly in the market and work with the different denominations to get the world out in many different ways,” Gutin said.
Church groups represent a large part of the traffic for the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. Since it opened in 2007, the museum has seen more than 1.7 million visitors.
“Over 50 percent of the people that come to the museum come from outside of a 250-mile radius,” said Eddie Lutz, the museum’s group sales manager. “I work with the tourism industry and also with pastors and churches. Churches are the strongest part of my job. I’m calling on churches across the board — various denominations in various parts of town.
“I’m trying to reach them with the message of biblical authority, not just an invitation to visit the museum. People are responding to the power of the message, without a doubt. These people are believers, and they’re coming because they want to gain an understanding of Creation. It reinforces their beliefs and their faith.”
New Destinations
As the ranks of faith-based travelers have grown, so has the appetite for a variety of travel destinations.
“The Holy Land continues to dominate,” Schields said. “We continue to push the Holy Land in any way that we can. But Europe is also great, and we see a lot of interest in Italy, France and Spain. We’re also thinking about resurrecting the Footsteps of Pope John Paul II tour. Now that he has been beatified, there’s a lot of interest in that again.”
Image Tours and Travel has found that faith-based groups are interested in visiting other places outside of Israel and Jordan that have connections with Christianity.
“We do quite a bit of the Footsteps of Paul in Greece, Turkey and Italy,” Ricart said. “We do a bit of Germany, the cradle of the Reformation and Martin Luther. We do customized faith-based programs to Ireland and Scotland.
“We’re known for the Holy Land, which is our bread and butter. But we also have groups going to South Africa, where they do a combination of a few days of mission work and sightseeing. You spend a few days serving people and then spend six or seven days taking in the sights and seeing the game reserves.”
Cruising has also become more popular among faith-based groups. In addition to a number of popular faith-based programs that charter full ships for Caribbean cruises, many tour operators offer church groups berths on cruise ships, with special programming that features well known Christian speakers or musicians.
The appeal of cruising has crossed over into traditional faith-based destinations as well.
“I see a very large increase in adding cruises to a typical Holy Land tour,” Ricart said. “They’re cruising the Mediterranean, spending a couple of days in the ports at Ashdod or Haifa. There are some programs where they can even go on to Egypt or Jordan and cruise on the Red Sea.
“You’re going to wonderful faith-based destinations and then stopping in between at wonderful islands that aren’t religious but still have incredible culture. More and more people are asking for that every day.”
