Bookstores Being Creative with The Christian Travel Planner

Hey Christian Bookstores......

Want to increase your sales and become the "go to" place for all Christians? Then check out this ingenious Christian giftshop idea below regarding the debut of their new "Travel" section! As their sales of The Christian Travel Planner of course went through the roof with this fabulous and fun display.....you can replicate this idea or even challenge yourself and see if your store can come up with a bigger, better, and more remarkable idea. The sky is the limit!

P.S. If you know of any bookstores or giftshops that have a fun "Travel" section display.....send in photos of the display to me and I may publish it in The Christian Travel Planner blog!

Book Signing at The Rock Church April 27 (San Diego, CA)

I will be doing a book signing at The Rock Church in San Diego on Sunday April 27 from 11am to 2pm. The Rock Church is located at 2277 Rosecrans St. San Diego, CA 92106. The pastor of The Rock Church is Miles McPherson, former NFL player with the San Diego Chargers. I hope to see you there! By the way.....here's a sneak-peak look at the "Tower of Power" for the Christian Travel Planner guidebook at The Rock Church bookstore - in preparation for the book signing. The photo is complements of my professional (cell phone) photographer sister - Michelle Wright.

Associated Press: Christian Travel Planner guide to faith-based trips

Christian Travel Planner guide to faith-based trips
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 04/18/2008
Click here to view the full Associated Press article.

NASHVILLE—A guide to faith-based trips is out called "The Christian Travel Planner."
The $16.99 paperback includes information about missions and ministries; Christian cruises, camps and retreats; and Christian heritage sites overseas in the Middle East, Greece, Italy, England, Germany and other places.

Domestic attractions noted in the book include the Holy Land Experience biblical park in Orlando, Fla., and "The Great Passion Play" performed in Eureka Springs, Ark. Listings for monastic guest stays include the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu, N.M., and the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Ky.

The book from Nashville-based publisher Thomas Nelson was written by Kevin J. Wright, president of the World Religious Travel Association.

Denver Post Review - The Christian Travel Planner

Denver Post Review of The Christian Travel Planner

Book Your Vacation
04/03/2008
Website link: http://www.denverpost.com/travel/ci_8775853

"The Christian Travel Planner" ($16.99, Thomas Nelson) makes it possible to plan a trip around specific interests, including tours of biblical areas, retreats, pilgrimages and missionary work, as well as vacations that incorporate stops at religious sites throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. Author Kevin J. Wright, who lives in Littleton and is the founder of the World Religious Travel Association, has organized the planner in a logical way, starting with the reasons for going to a particular area, the religious significance of the sites, the time and logistics involved, and the costs. He also offers relevant Bible passages and historical information, as well as practical tips, such as his suggestion for taking warm clothing if you plan to hike to the top of Mount Sinai in Egypt in the early morning, as it can be chilly even in the summer. Helpful websites, lodging recommendations and other activity options in each area round out this thorough guide.
Kyle Wagner

Boston Globe Review - The Christian Travel Planner

Boston Globe review of The Christian Travel Planner

Where Jesus went, and Paul, and Martin ...
Posted by Julie Dalton, Globe Travel Staff
February 19, 2008 01:27 PM

This seemed like the book Mike Huckabee would be picking up in the next couple of weeks – oh, OK, maybe months – but his grandly paid Presidents Day weekend in Grand Cayman for the price of a 20-minute speech may have affected his tastes. . . . Nah, Huck still will love “The Christian Travel Planner” by Kevin J. Wright (Thomas Nelson, 416 pp., $16.99, paperback), an encyclopedic and friendly presentation and exposition of sites around the world to entice and inspire travelers uninterested in Sodom, Gomorrah, or Vegas. Pilgrimage tours, mission trips, retreats, conference cruises, camp vacations, religious festivals, solo itineraries devised by the reader alone or with friends are all possible with the materials Wright has meticulously assembled. Jesus (Israel, Jordan, the Egyptian Sinai), Saint Paul (Turkey and Greece), early Christianity (Rome and the Vatican), John Knox (Scotland), Martin Luther (Germany), Thomas Becket (Canterbury Cathedral), John Calvin (Switzerland) are all historical pieces of the worldwide reach of Christian religions and their shrines and remnants.

With each selection, including the Creation Museum outside Cincinnati and the Holy Land Experience in Orlando and the Amish community in Pennsylvania, Wright includes almost all the information an interested traveler, armchair or otherwise, might require in order to take the next step. With some, he goes further: Why should I visit? What should I see and do? How much time should I spend? How can I get there? All are answered succinctly (and none too theologically). In the section on cruises, for instance, Wright summarizes trips by length, cost, when best to go, with whom, and adds a list of “Demands and Benefits”: spiritual focus, fellowship opportunities, physically demanding, intellectually stimulating, emotionally rewarding, culturally enriching. The book has other virtues, though not pictorial (it is truly a paperback, black and white): maps showing itineraries, be they Paul’s or Moses’; a detailed index; pages of notes; a varied bibliography; a list of tour operators; and more websites throughout than you can imagine. Then, again, the religious travel industry is a multibillion-dollar business with hundreds of millions of participants each year. Thinking again of the job-hunting former governor of Arkansas traveling with homo sapiens restores my faith in humanity.