Tourism Ministry website lacks detail, order

At long last Tourism Ministry launches new website in Hebrew, English, and Russian, but it seems someone hastily declared website complete before it was actually completed
Zvika Burg

At first glance it looks good. Clear, uniform graphics, familiar scenery pictures, list of links and news strip. Very nice. You can tell that a lot of effort and consideration were given to the task and one can definitely learn new things about tourist attractions, Bed and Breakfast, hotels and many other attractions that Israel was blessed with.

When you check the content though, it is not all rosy. It seems someone hastily declared the website complete before it was actually completed. Here are a few of examples:

1. No order. The point of such knowledge-based websites is being orderly and systematic. If you try for example looking for B and B in the "North" without specifying a location your search results will yield 893 places, not in alphabetical order with links to B and B websites and /or phone numbers. How does one choose?

2. No classifying of hotels by number of stars, as is the norm. If one looks for a five star hotel in Jerusalem and the search results show random list and links to hotels in Jerusalem, how can one determine whether King David Hotel is a five star hotel in the center of city or a far-flung youth hostel? Not to mention that one can not reserve and book a room online.

3. No dates. Dates of Jewish holidays are not given in the Gregorian calendar, something a tourist may find useful when arriving to a place with a different religion and culture. The site provides details about Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Passover etc, but the site does not convert the Hebrew calendar to the Gregorian. A tourist needs to know that on certain holidays there is no public transportation, and many businesses, like banks are closed.

4. No addresses. The site lists many links on different subjects like Markets and Art but that too, is a half-baked effort. What good is the information that Jerusalem has an oriental market or an art fair if no address, hours of operation, phone numbers, and means of transportation are listed? The same goes for some museums in Haifa.

5. No news. In other tourists websites the news strip lists attractions, festivals, special events and such but the Hebrew version strip lists only news related to the ministry of tourism. Nothing of interest to the tourist. This feature was skipped in the other versions of the website and it's too bad.

There is this little political issue as well. Why is it that the tourism ministry chose to launch the site in Hebrew, English, Russian, and other Scandinavian languages but not in Arabic, which is Israel's second official language? Don't we have Israeli-Arab travelers who may be interested to see the information in their own language? Don't we get Arab speaking tourists from overseas? Aren't we interested in Muslim pilgrims?

Speaking of Muslims, the site features virtual tours from many spots around Israel. Jerusalem alone has 30 virtual tours of different attractions featured on the site. For some reason, the Temple Mount is not one of them. But this may not be an issue of propaganda, but pure tourism marketing.