Tripadvisor-type portal brings Israel and Jewish virtual travel to families worldwide. ‘It’ll be the trend of the new Jewish year,’ predicts founder.
“Virtual travel to Israel and Jewish cultural sites worldwide will be the trend that defines the new Jewish year, 5780,” says Jack Gottlieb, who has launched a one-stop-shop that connects users with the top virtual tours and events.
Jack Gottlieb is founder of World Jewish Travel, a popular site that was set up as a resource for Jewish travel, and which has created the special portal for virtual tourism. He said: “A year ago, people would have laughed if you said we’d be holding birthday parties and Rosh Hashanah gatherings on Zoom. Now, you can log in to a scheduled bus tour of Jerusalem at a certain time at the Jewish National Fund website and get a jewish experience without leaving your home! Jewish-themed travelling which is so important in shaping our identities can now be experienced online.”
The new Virtual Tours portal on World Jewish Travel gives users access, through an easy-to-use interface, to tours from across the globe, especially Israel and Europe. They include cutting-edge museum tours in Jerusalem, street tours in Krakow, Prague and Majorca, and educational tours in Amsterdam and Auschwitz. The portal not only curates sites for virtual Jewish travel, but also includes many Christian places to visit across the Holy Land, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Nazareth, and Capernaum. The portal is the only curated site for virtual Jewish and Israeli travel.
“The pandemic has brought an amazing explosion of quality programming in Jewish virtual travel, but it’s not getting the exposure it deserves, because there’s no central ‘location’ where people can find it. WJT is inviting other Virtual Tour providers to send us their tours so we can add them to this important portal!"
Now, families can sit down, and just like they would choose a show on Netflix, select a Jewish tour, sit back on the sofa, and travel together. We’re making the experience user-friendly by bringing a huge number of different experiences, in an easy-to-scroll and easy-to-search format, in one portal.I’m convinced that, like other technologies that will outlive the pandemic, this will out-survive the coronavirus.Jack Gottlieb, WJT Founder
About World Jewish Travel
World Jewish Travel is a unique non-profit organisation which provides an innovative and comprehensive digital platform, a ‘Jewish Tripadvisor’, to promote Jewish cultural travel. It helps users to discover and experience Jewish culture around the world. The platform’s unique cultural content includes sites, events, eBooks, and blogs in addition to service partners such as guides, tour operators, hotels, and restaurants.