Take a Virtual Vacation
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
Micaela Pavoncello leads a tour
in Rome before the pandemic.

Courtesy of Micaela Pavoncello
T HAKINMHAN / iStock / Getty Images Plus
he coronavirus pandemic has given rise to a new form of
international travel that allows tourists to skip the lines
and the jet lag.

Armed with computers rather than fanny packs, intrepid
souls hire local guides and journey to faraway places from the
comfort of their living rooms.

Th is is virtual tourism — and it may be here to stay.

Participants pay experts to educate them through videos and
slideshows of destinations that are temporarily out of reach. Th ey
are not intended to replace travel, but to provide entertainment
and social connection while people are stuck in their home
countries. For those who miss visiting Israel, Jewish National Fund-USA
launched JNF Virtual Travel & Tours, which are virtual missions
complete with Zoom buses and cocktail hours.

“A few weeks ago, my wife Lauren mentioned to me the JNF
partners love to get together for missions to Israel, and with
COVID-19 we miss that,” Jewish National Fund-USA President
Sol Lizerbram said. “She said, ‘What if we have a virtual mission
to Israel? We’ll all get on a virtual bus, we’ll hire a professional
tour guide and for a week we’ll go on a tour of Israel.’”
Th e missions are led by a guide in Israel and at least one
JNF-USA staff member who is local to the “departing” region.

Each Zoom bus can hold 22 households sharing a computer
screen. Tours begin at 4 p.m. in participants’ local time zone and
run for an hour, during which they visit three sites. Th e guide
presents images, videos, stories and cultural insight while
answering questions from the audience. At 5 p.m., people take
a break to get ready for dinner or cocktails with their fellow
travelers. At 6 p.m., everyone reconvenes to schmooze on Zoom.

A $50 registration fee covers fi ve days of tours, beginning on
6 JUNE 25, 2020
Monday and culminating in a Shabbat gathering on Friday.

“It’s not the same as being there, obviously, but it is fun to go
on the tour and to have dinner or appetizers together,” Lizerbram
said. JNF-USA is also assisting Israeli artisans and small businesses
hurting from the lack of tourism. Participants looking for a
souvenir from their virtual travels can buy wine, cheese, jewelry
and art from JNF-USA’s online Mitzvah Marketplace and have it
shipped to their homes.

According to Lizerbram, the trips are a hit and attracted a
variety of audiences. Some have been to Israel as many as 30
times. Others have never visited. Many had trips scheduled this
year that were canceled or now seem uncertain.

“Now synagogues are requesting buses, Jewish day schools are
requesting buses, Jewish camps are requesting buses; it’s sort of
become quite a phenomenon,” he said.

Samantha van Adelsberg, JNF-USA’s Eastern Pennsylvania
director, said the organization has already hosted 14 virtual trips
to Israel and signed up more than 800 participants across the
country. “Th e good problem on our end is we have so many tours and
so many regions interested in sending Zoom buses to Israel we
almost don’t have enough responses,” she said.

JNF-USA does not take any of the money raised by the virtual
missions. “Funds go directly to the guides who have been out for work
for almost three months,” van Adelsberg said.

For tour guide Yocheved Kolchin, the program has been a way
to earn steady part-time income. She got her tour guide license
at the end of January, just weeks before Israel’s tourism industry
shut down.

“A lot of people are out of work right now, and we don’t get
THIS SUMMER
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