Madison International Travel, Inc .
“Serving the Christian Community Coast to Coast”  

Helpful Suggestions on Planning Your Holy Land Tour

Planning Time

•It is good to begin planning your tour 6 months to one year in advance. Arrangements can be made in a much sooner time period depending upon availability.

•Choose your approximate travel dates.

•Seasons can affect your tour price. Generally, seasons are as follows:

Shoulder Season: March-May and September-November

Peak Season: June-September

Low Season: November-March

•Jewish Holidays are considered Peak Season. Seasons will vary slightly each year.

Group Sizes

• A minimum of 20 tour members are needed for a group. However, we can price tours for groups of any sizes. A small group can greatly affect your touring price.

• Decide on a realistic minimum and maximum number of participants you anticipate for your tour. Tour price is based upon the number of estimated tour members.

• Small Groups could possibly join with another church to be cost effective.

Airlines

•Several carriers are considered for your tour. The airline used for your tour depends on what type of flight plan is important to you (i.e. non-stop from US).

•Airlines are also considered if you are visiting more than one country.

•Deposits of $50-$100 per seat is required by airlines to guarantee rates and seats needed for each tour group. The deposit is fully refundable after the travel takes place and specific dates are given by the airlines to reduce the number of seats reserved or to cancel reservations without penalty of deposit.

Hotel Accommodations

•Your tour price will vary according to the type of accommodations you choose for your tour.

•Top hotel ratings: Superior Deluxe (5*) category then to First Class (4*) and Tourist Class (3*).

•Location of your hotel will vary the price. The hotels that are close to the Old City or those with special views are more costly. The same is true of Tiberias and Tel Aviv hotels.

Customize Your Itinerary

•Sample itineraries are provided for your consideration.

•Sites in Israel are limitless and it is impossible to see it all in 7 or 8 days of touring. You must decide on what sites you feel are most important for your group.

•Consider how many days you would like for your complete tour package, (allow 2 or 3 days for travel) how many touring days and if you would like to offer a free day to your participants.

•Consider additions you would like to add such as lunch, a farewell dinner, or any additions suggested on the “interesting sites…” page of your packet.

Free Tour Escorts

•Free tours are costed into the final price of your tour. We make every effort to meet your needs for free tours. You can receive one free tour for every seven paying passengers, for every five paying passengers, or every 10 paying passengers.

•If you do not need to use the free tours, you can receive the funds back to you to use as you choose for your particular ministry.

Taxes and Tips

•We highly recommend including the tip recommendation to guides, driver and hotel staff in your tour price. This enables us to offer the guides generous tips and to ensure we continue to offer our groups the best guides in Israel.

•By collecting tips in the tour price, the funds can be given to the tour host to distribute as needed. MIT will assist you in dividing the funds for distributing.

•We cannot recommend including taxes in the tour price due to the fact that taxes cannot be finalized until ticketing and the estimate can often change from the time of pricing.

Promotion

• Our tour price always includes a customized brochure for your tour.

•Begin promoting early to give your people plenty of time to prepare.

•Spread the enthusiasm. The number of participants in your tour will largely depend on your enthusiasm for the tour.

•Hold information meetings and “ Holy Land Nights.”

•MIT makes every effort to provide you with an orientation/information meeting for your congregation if needed.

•Posters, various brochures and promotional videos are available from the Israeli Government Tourist Office

Registering Tour Members

•Tour members can register directly with MIT.

•We handle the collection of deposits and final payments of individual tour members, as well as informing participants of pertinent information, collecting passport information and making arrangements for domestic connection if needed.

•All funds collected for tours are held in a trust account, until payments are made to operators.

Final Documents

•Final documents arrive 2-4 weeks before departure.

•They include a map of Israel, nametag and complete information packet to include hotel information, rooming list and last minute details on traveling to the Holy Land.

Land Operators

MIT has been operating tours to the Holy Land for over 20 years. Over that time period we have worked several operators in Israel. Over the past 5 years we have been working exclusively with Amiel Tours and have been more than pleased with their service to us and to each tour group we have sent to Israel.

Amiel Tours is one of the largest Operators in Israel and have earned many awards from the Ministry of Tourism. They have been in business for over 25 years, and have built the company to what is today. Amiel Tours continues to be successful because they offer tourist quality tours, a standard MIT will only offer to our clients.

The quality operation they provide ensures us that guides that work with Amiel Tours are excellent, well educated, personable, and strive to make sure all of your desires and needs are met while on tour. They truly go that “extra mile” to offer your group a most memorable the trip.

Working with Amiel Tours has given us the ability to offer our tours at excellent prices. Amiel Tours is not only a large corporation, but also well respected in the industry, thus offering us very good rates which gives us the ability to give you not only a quality tour, but very competitive rates.Your group will benefit from a wonderful staff working behind the scenes on your behalf, long before your tour arrives. The results will give your tour members the once-in-a-lifetime visit to the Holy Land that they deserve. MIT is honored to work in partnership with Amiel Tours.