Tour guides stress the importance of Hebron as a natural and tourist attraction

The Mahmiyat project and the Arab Tourist Guide Union organized a tour for 23 tour guides to the city of Hebron, in the southern West Bank. They visited  landmarks of the Old City, including the closed Sahla Street, as well as the ancient pool of Sultan.

The visit was through the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, and was coordinated by tour guide, Abeer Al-Nazer. The goal was to emphasize the economic, social and political importance of the city. It was also pointed out that Hebron is a designated craft city, and is registered globally as such by a decision of the World Crafts Council in 2016.

During the tour, the guides met with the Department of Tourism and Antiquities in the Hebron Municipality, led by Mr. Murad Al-Tamimi. They also met with the General Director of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, Mr. Emad Hamdan, to see the tourist situation in the old city. Afterwards, they watched a short film about Hebron.

The tour included a visit to the facilities of the glass and porcelain industry, the Delight and sesame industry stores, and the Royal Plastic Factory. The goal was to show the most well known products made in Hebron, and how the factories adhered to  environmental procedures and requirements.

The participants in the tour confirmed the importance of the city and its role in attracting tourism to Palestine. The tourist delegations paid special attention to traditional and handmade crafts. Also, they acknowledged that the Old City is the fourth Palestinian cultural property on the World Heritage List, after the Old City and its walls, located in Jerusalem.

The participants praised the city of Hebron as a World Heritage site worth visiting because of its tourist attractions, as well as natural, cultural, historical and religious characteristics.

It is noteworthy that this was the second tour for the tour guides in the Hebron Governorate. The first tour was to see the environmental reality, the nature in the governorate and to visit the Wadi Al-Quff Nature Reserve.

The tour was attended by a variety of tour guides, President of the Arab Tourist Guide union, Youssef Eida, the Executive Director of the union, Linda Khoury, and Ms. Ikram Quttaineh from the Hanns Seidel Foundation, .