RAMALLAH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

PROJECT DETAILS

The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed tourism sector, it restrained many travelling lovers from ticking off their bucket list. Once visiting different cities was impossible, we offered in Ramallah as virtual tour of the city. Ramallah municipality in collaboration with a private technical firm developed VRamallah, which is an immersive environment in where user can walk around 360 is a video viewed from the filmmaker PoV, with narration in English, where you can walk the old city, enjoy the lively city center and the landmarks of Ramallah, to promote the city of Ramallah locally and internationally. Many people nowadays like to search and see the destination they are planning to visit. This service gives watcher an overview about the city. VRamallah has already reached thousands of people inside and outside Palestine at their convenience, and made available for free to assure everyone has equal access to this journey. http://bit.ly/3684oqp 

VR is a powerful marketing tool in tourism, it has the ability to place users at the heart of the scene and makes it easier for them to imagine themselves at the location, so to interactively experience the beauty of the targeted destination. VRamallah is meant to offer a perspective that is often missing from mainstream media. It gives people a platform to get their voices heard and it putting into use innovative technology to break barriers, stereotypes, and misinformation about Ramallah and Palestine in general. 

Many people whom has never visited Ramallah and enjoyed the hospitality of the people and relatively advanced tourism infrastructure, they may be hesitated to visit the city, thus, VRamallah will help in showing the reality of the city and the people of Ramallah, this promotional tool has been a powerful one for years. 

In order to engage the community in the recovery from pandemic and allow better ties between citizens and visitors, Ramallah Municipality has recently joined the International Greeters Association – a worldwide nonprofit organization, aiming to promote sustainable tourism and building bridges between people from different cultures and backgrounds. Greeters are friendly face volunteers that have deep knowledge about history, culture and traditions of their cities and societies, take visitors/ tourists on a free walk through the city for 2-3 hours. The Greeters aim for a lasting positive image of each of their cities, they respect natural and man-made environments, bringing both cultural and economic enrichment to local communities, Greeter organizations create a mutually enriching opportunity for cultural exchange; create links between people in creating a better world. IGA applicants have to agree on and commit with core values mentioned before in order to become member of the network. 

By joining this network Ramallah municipality will enhance the positive image of the city internationally, and help in making more and more friends for Ramallah, this will have a positive impact on sustainable tourism in the city, by enhancing the community based tourism, and establishing human relationships between the local community and the visitors, whom will become also promoter for the destination by transforming their expertise in Ramallah to people in their homelands. 

These services are part of the Ramallah City to grow as an inclusive and sustainable city that provides equal experiences and rights to its citizens and visitors. As part of its sustainable tourism plan, Ramallah Municipality has developed partnerships to develop three tourist trails within and around the city. The first one, is in the old city of Ramallah, named (Naqsh o Heraf) aiming at reviving the old city, enhancing local tourism and preserving the artisans in the old city through promoting them to finding a suitable market to appreciate the crafts . The second is involving Ramallah in the international well known trail of Abraham Path, the trail will connect the city and some other surrounding villages with the path. Thousands of internationals do this trail every year, good percentage of tourists are expected to visit and stay in Ramallah at least one full day and night in Ramallah, economic and social benefits will be reflected on the local community, this project is very promising for tourism sector in Ramallah, and it will add for the sustainable development of Ramallah, knowing that Abraham Path is one the oldest tourism trails in the region. The third trail, is connecting Ramallah with the national trail of Darb Al-Quds, which will help in promoting tourism in Ramallah and the villages between Jerusalem and Ramallah, which will build the resiliency and sustainability of the communities living and working within the trail, who will benefit socially and economically.

LINK TO SUSTAINABILTY

• Inclusion of local community 
• Providing free of charge services to incite equal access to Tourism services for the preservation of cultural heritage 
• Building bridges between locals and internationals