Communities
Like every thriving civilization in the world, the Palestinian people encompasses a unique culture and a distinctive diversity, which can quickly absorb the traveler who attempts to explore it. The mixture of aspirations and challenges that the Palestinians face on a daily basis, together with the fusion of antiquity and modernism that define most Palestinian cities, have forged, for the country a successful story of hospitality and resolution.
Palestinian people from all lifestyles come together to offer you a memorable experience and an intimate hospitality, whether it’s sipping a cup of mint tea under a grape vine pergola with a family in their home in the countryside of Palestine or winding down to the horizon with a Bedouin family as the sun sets away from the Dead Sea or accompanying young Palestinians to an art exhibit, hopping from one gallery to the other in a Palestinian city. No matter where you are in Palestine, expect to be treated and spoiled by people you just met as they invite you into their homes and offer you comfort and safe keeping.
Like every thriving civilization in the world, the Palestinian people encompasses a unique culture and a distinctive diversity, which can quickly absorb the traveler who attempts to explore it. The mixture of aspirations and challenges that the Palestinians face on a daily basis, together with the fusion of antiquity and modernism that define most Palestinian cities, have forged, for the country a successful story of hospitality and resolution.
Palestinian people from all lifestyles come together to offer you a memorable experience and an intimate hospitality, whether it’s sipping a cup of mint tea under a grape vine pergola with a family in their home in the countryside of Palestine or winding down to the horizon with a Bedouin family as the sun sets away from the Dead Sea or accompanying young Palestinians to an art exhibit, hopping from one gallery to the other in a Palestinian city. No matter where you are in Palestine, expect to be treated and spoiled by people you just met as they invite you into their homes and offer you comfort and safe keeping.
Community-Based Tourism in Palestine: Engage and Protect
You are cordially invited to visit Palestine, to explore its beauty, sanctity, diversity, history and people. A unique experience has been carefully designed for you in a variety of community-based tourism programs that we trust will produce many memories to cherish and friends to keep.
The community-based tourism program in Palestine is first and foremost about people and about their various stories, lineages, arts and aspirations. Community-based tourism is about cultural heritage, about diversity and about the choices we make to preserve and protect it. It’s about people managing their resources and capacities and creating pertinent itineraries and programs accordingly.
When in Palestine, do take the extra step to meet and engage with the local community and learn about the Palestinian culture and production that are crafted with love for nature and woven with the scent of its various blooms.
Discovering Less-Known Destinations
Community-based tourism is our vehicle to promote less-known destinations that complement the Palestinian tourism portrait and provide the differentiation it deserves. You will be our partner as we open new opportunities for people living in areas that are marginalized, but culturally and historically rich and diverse; and we will be your hosts as we learn to appreciate them together. Make the extra effort to travel to remote villages and sites and use Palestine’s main community-based tourism initiatives as your platform to discover these striking destinations.
Your Connection: Local Community Guides
Let the natives lead you through their hometowns and the surrounding areas. Let them be the connection between you and other members of their communities, the places they have lived in for years, the land they have understood. Let them be the key to learning about the local traditions and habits. Local guides are open to your questions and will give you first-hand answers and provide you with inside stories of the places they grew up in.
These are your non-guide guides. They provide you with a familiar face that ensures your safety and that promotes you as an appreciated guest among their communities. They are different from your trekking guide or other, general guides. They are an integral part of the community-based tourism fabric.
Environmental Protection
One of the points included in the Code of Conducts for Responsible Tourism is environmental protection. The NEPTO members, local population, as well as visitors are asked to avoid situations where they would create environment exploitation or pollution. In contrary, they contribute to protection of the precious natural resources in Palestine.
The programs created by the NEPTO members fall under the category of sustainable tourism, and some under its sub-category: ecotourism, which is responsible for natural areas by conserving the nature and aiming to minimize negative impacts on environment.
Internships or Volunteering
NEPTO association would like to encourage anyone who would like to do an internship or become a volunteer in Palestine to directly contact our members.
