The Spiritual Side of Harlem
Harlem, formerly the popular ghetto area of New York, is today a tourist destination, especially for those who want to know more about traditional African religion and mode of worship
Normally, active tourism in the United States briefly terminates in winter because everyone and everywhere is cold and so, sightseeing holds no attraction for anyone. But there is one peculiar and controversial attraction in New York City that defies the weather because it goes on all-year long. It is the tourists’ visit to the black churches in Harlem, a famous section of New York City inhabited for centuries by African-Americans. The tourists go there to witness a traditional African-flavoured worship distinct from Catholicism and older versions of Protestantism.
What started with a few people showing interest has today grown with hundreds of tourists crowding Harlem church services. This apparently made the Harlem Chamber of Commerce to develop the tourism potentials of organising visits for foreigners who enjoy the gospel and African- American Christian worship. The move resulted in at least 60 of Harlem’s 338 church taking parts in the gospel sightseeing trade. In 2006, 44 million visitors came to New York City and left $24 billion with a quarter of that sum raked in by the Harlem church tour. In 2008, that figure rose by five percent and is climbing.
Twenty-five years ago, sending tourists beyond 96 th street, where Harlem’s district in New York began, on any pretext, would have been a taboo. This is because America would not want the world to see its slum which Harlem used to be. Now the interest in its churches, and the clean environment, has made Harlem one of the top places for international vacationers to visit while in New York. The visits has assured a big event so much that guided bus tours and some vacation hotels take bus loads of vacationers for a fee to the Harlem churches every Sunday morning. Companies like Expedia, CitySights, NY Tours, and even the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Agency, MTA, charge $50 to $300 per person to take mostly European and Asian tourists to see Harlem Sunday services.
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