Jerusalem24 – Salah Abu Laban, a quadrilingual Palestinian tour guide and hostel owner from Bethlehem, joined us to explore the tourism sector and its challenges in the wake of the pandemic. Abu Laban told us how he came up with the concept for a hostel after touring Europe to learn Polish in order to extend his tourism business with the Polish palmridge and wanting to bring the hostel culture with him back to Palestine. We discussed the various nationalities with whom he works, as well as the alternate path in which he prefers to lead his tours—where he focuses on culture, politics, and historical sites rather than the conventional holy sites. We talked about what it’s like to be a tour guide during the pandemic, and Abu Laban told us about his fellow tour guides’ experiences. We also discussed the role of government in defending the tourism sector and what might be done to preserve and nurture it. Abu Laban concludes our fruitful chat by asking domestic tourism to thrive in Palestine during these difficult times.
