In town of Jesus' birth, craftsmen take on Chinese knockoffs

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Christmas is approaching and pilgrims and tourists have begun to arrive, crowding the souvenir shops that line the narrow streets and alleys of Bethlehem, the biblical town revered as Jesus' birthplace.

[...] when visitors choose to take a piece of the Holy Land back home with them, they better check the labels.

Some 120,000 people are expected to visit the Holy Land this holiday season, half of them Christian, according to Israel's Tourism Ministry.

"There's a big influx of imported products and a lot of traditional crafts are declining gradually," said Samy Khoury, the center's founder and general manager.

The Visit Palestine Center, which started as an online store and travel guide five years ago, works with nearly 100 workshops and home-based artisans throughout the Palestinian territories and in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.

"Maintaining consistency and quality, the right lead time, figuring how much production capacity the producers can give," are some of them, explained Khoury.

Ali Abu Srour, director general of the Palestinian Tourism Ministry, said the government is trying to update its tourism laws to protect local producers and merchants.