Title: Tour guides policy: law or political culture? The case of pilgrims in the Holy Land

Authors: Assaf Meydani

Addresses: The School of Government and Society, The Academic College of Tel-Aviv Yaffo, Rabenu Yeruham St., P.O. Box 8401, Yaffo 61083, Israel

Abstract: The role of tour guides has not been widely discussed in the literature, and neither has the policy that governs the place of tour guides in relation to the pilgrimage in the Holy Land. The Israeli Supreme Court (1987) has enabled pilgrims to guide without a licence, in clear opposition to the position of the Israeli Tour Guides' Association. This led to a public 'storm', as a result of the tension between law, tourism, religion and state. It seems that the pilgrims' debate is not over yet in Israel. This paper will try to analyse the court decision within a neo-institutionalism approach emphasising non-governability and alternative political culture as explanatory variables.

Keywords: tour guides; tourism law; political culture; Holy Land; pilgrimage; religion; state; politics; neo-institutionalism; non-governability; Israel; pilgrims.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2015.075028

International Journal of Public Law and Policy, 2015 Vol.5 No.3, pp.207 - 218

Received: 16 May 2014
Accepted: 17 Jun 2014
Published online: 01 Mar 2016 *

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