The Latin American Jewish Tourism Seminar brought together Jewish tourism professionals from across Latin America to collaborate on how to engage people through the practices of traveling, tourism, and hosting.

The inaugural Latin American Jewish Tourism Seminar brought together Jewish community members from Latin American cities to learn and exchange ideas about the value of Hachnasat Orchim (hospitality) – specifically how to engage people through the practices of traveling, tourism, and hosting.

This innovative event was developed by two NGF alumni who found each other through our Global Directory. Paola Salem reached out to Marcos Gandelsman, another Brazilian Fellow, to ask for help promoting new Jewish tours in cities that didn’t currently offer them. From there, the idea of a seminar emerged to not only promote the idea of Jewish tourism in Latin America but to empower local leaders to develop and promote sustainable tourism themselves.

The first Latin American Tourism Seminar’s participants learned about the importance of Jewish heritage and sustainable tourism. During the event, a new network of Jewish tourism professionals emerged, as did ideas for future collaborations. Together, this cohort will continue building upon their dedication to developing sustainable tourism practices that promote community development, especially in smaller communities.

For the community of Recife, hosting this inaugural seminar served to promote and celebrate the importance of Recife’s Jewish heritage and history.

The seminar, which culminated with participants attending the Recife Jewish Culture street festival, was a resounding success. “The first Latin-American Jewish Tourism Seminar was a dream come true,” said Dani Rotstein from Majorca, Spain. He continued:

“I had always wanted to meet and connect with other guides or community leaders passionate about sharing their city’s Jewish history and life but also learn about others. I had made many wonderful connections and my favorite moments were brainstorming as a group where and how we want the future of Jewish tourism to look like. We created action plans to follow up with and know that this network and collaboration will only grow and develop from here.”

Elizabeth Vexelman from Lima, Peru, agreed, saying: “The experience has been like a trigger for me to start thinking of other possibilities we have in Peru to discover/uncover hidden stories and to step forward in the Judaic Tourism arena.”