Rinat Blum - Think Global, Guide Local

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My friend and colleague Rinat Bloom sat down with me for a wide-ranging talk in which we discussed her eclectic background, various experiences as a tour guide, her insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge, as well as our unbridled love for our adopted hometown of Haifa. In the episode, Rinat shares how she found her true passion as a tour guide after surviving breast cancer and how the current coronavirus crisis has upended the tourism sector. We talk about her experience of guiding at the Atlit detention camp and the importance of branching out from the typical packaged tours to visit lesser-known tourist attractions. We discuss shifts in tourism in our lives and agree that our guests are less interested in ticking off a checklist of “must-see” attractions in favor of opportunities to meet and form real connections with local people.  She shares with us the challenges of guiding youth in the Israeli school system and her attempts to impart a deeper connection to the Land of Israel. She highlights her focus on Haifa and the surrounding areas and her hopes that tourists will return after the current crisis to discover all that this hidden gem of a city has to offer. Lastly, Rinat reflects on the challenges of the past year and relates the struggles of balancing a work-life balance in an industry that can often take us away from our families for weeks at a time. To contact Rinat, please check out her Facebook and Instagram pages under Rinat Blum or on Facebook at Israeli Moments.