For the first time ever, a group of Chinese educators has begun a two-week course of study about the Holocaust at Jerusalem’s Yad VaShem center.
Some 20 participants from China, Hong Kong and Macau entered the center, which contains Jerusalem's Holocaust Memorial Museum, on Monday for an intensive seminar on the events that resulted in the genocide of six million Jews – and how to educate their students on the subject. The course is being conducted under the auspices of Yad VaShem’s International School for Holocaust Studies, which offers dozens of seminars annually for educators around the world. The school produces educational material in numerous languages.
As part of the course, the educators will tour the Holocaust History Museum and the Valley of the Communities among other sites. They will also attend lectures from top educators and historians on various topics relating to the Nazi genocide and will meet with those who survived.
In addition, participants will tour Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and various historical sites in the country.
Increase in Chinese Tourism
Tourism Ministry Director-General Noaz Bar Nir last month signed a tourism cooperation agreement with his Chinese counterpart, Dao Suaming, Director-General of the Shanghai Tourism Ministry.
“The Chinese tourism market holds enormous potential for Israel,” Bar Nir said in a statement to the media. “The tourism industry in China in general, and in Shanghai and Beijing in particular, displays great interest in and is happy to cooperate with Israel. Simplifying the bureaucratic procedures and increasing airline traffic will facilitate a significant increase in incoming tourism from China,” he added.
At present, Chinese tourists must wait approximately a month in order to procure a visa to Israel, and tour operators have complained about a shortage of airline seats on flights to the Jewish State. Last year, some 10,000 tourists visited Israel from China, with 7,000 visitors having already arrived between January to August 2010 – an increase of more than 100 percent over the same period a year ago and a 26 percent jump over Chinese tourism figures from 2008.
The Tourism Ministry said it has also launched a website in Mandarin Chinese, offering accessible and updated information on accommodations, attractions, events and special packages in Israel.