The Vatican's official travel agency, Romana Opera, will begin operating six weekly charter flights to Israel starting Wednesday.The agency will also be offering additional flights to Israel from Naples, Sicily, Bergamo and Brescia.
To this end Romana Opera has chartered planes from Italian cargo airline Mistral Air, which will bear the travel agency's logo.
The Israeli Tourism Ministry's efforts to attract Catholic pilgrims to the local holy sites have resulted in a 70% increase in tourism from Italy last February.
The ministry's director-general, Shaul Tzemach, estimated that the new endeavor will result in some 7,000 additional hotel reservations, particularly in Bethlehem.
"The Catholic pilgrim is interested in visiting the traditional Christian holy sites," he said, adding that the Tourism Ministry will work to increase the number of flight routes to Israel to accommodate the pilgrims.
Some 500,000 pilgrims visited Israel in 2007, marking a 25% increase from the previous year.
About 80,000 pilgrims visited the country in January and February of 2008, up 30% from the same time last year.
The number of Italian tourists who made the trip to the Holy Land in February 2008 stood at 5,000, a whopping 70% increase compared with last year's figures.
Meanwhile, the final preparations are underway for the fifth annual Pilgrimage Marathon for Peace, which is scheduled to take place Passover Eve.
During the event, pilgrims will march from Bethlehem to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City to promote peace in the region.
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