JW ROMETOURS

Gratuities for your tour guide are not included in the tour price and just like anywhere else in the world, except Japan, are graciously accepted but not mandatory! Let each one do as he has resolved in his own heart.. Nobody will judge you on whether you leave it or not! (2 Cor 9:7)

Taxes and government regulations are different in each country.

In Italy we must pay 40% (or more) tax on all our earnings: whether from in-person or virtual tours!

Moreover we have to pay for someone who takes care of our social media contents and for someone who works on the hundreds or email/whattsapp messagges from 1 up to 4 hours a day/365 days!

Moreover in Italy, France or Greece it is illegal to work as tour guide without holding a valid government license, which in most cases requires a university degree.

In countries with a rich archaeological history, being a licensed tour guide requires endless training, costant upgrading, and a regular payment of specific taxes!

In Italy, it is illegal to guide a group on the street or inside an historical site without a license and/or by contribution only (no fixed price). If city police or a tourism inspector stops an illegal Tour Guide, a heavy fine will be imposed by law.

This is why the only 2 brothers/sisters that lead our tours are licensed tour guides! This is their employment and not their hobby.

We are unable to give all pioneers a discount.

We decided to make an exception for those who took a ‘ vow of poverty’ and who live on the small allowance received from the organization.

Regular pioneers and commuters like us, do work and earn money and pay taxes. As fellow pioneers who need to support our own families, we deeply appreciate all their efforts and dedication!

For those who are in special full time service SFTS – according with the group size – we always try to do our best, giving to them a discount.

Our sincere wish is that all brothers and sisters from abroad can join us on our tours even though we understand that in some situations, given the exchange rate, the tour price can be significant.

However in case of any dire economic discomfort, please let us know at the time of booking and we will evaluate each request regardless of your privileges in the congregation.

In general, anyone who decides to take a vacation abroad can let themselves be guided by the principle found in Luke 14:28

Not at all! We were all Licensed Tour Guides long before we started doing Bible Tours for our brothers and sisters. We did not improvise ourselves as Tour Guides, for example after having received training due to an international convention. In Italy it would not be possible. We are all registered in the National Register of the Tourism as professional workers, and we pay all taxes from this full time job.

We are not exclusive guides for Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Italy this would be considered a discriminatory.

However on this website and on our social pages linked here, you will find only those tours that we have prepared specifically for our brothers and sisters. Moreover we decided to divide our working week evenly between our JW bible tours and our non-witness group tours. We find this balance and variety refreshing as it balances out the often strong demands of Bible tours with the more relaxed non-bible tours which can also be more rewarding!

This is the reason why we are unable to accomodate up to 50% of JW Bibletours booking requests from our brothers and sisters.

Not at all! We are sorrry to disappoint you but from the moment you set foot in Italy, and particularly in Rome, you are already funding the Vatican. An important part of the businesses, hotels and B&Bs in the country belong to them!

In addition, the proceeds of the Museum tickets are largely used for the maintenance, restoration and caretaking of the precious works of art housed in the Vatican Museums.

Furthermore, we’re not forcing anyone to purchase anything. It is one of the 3 tours we offer, and everyone, based on their own conscienses, can decide wheter to ask for this tour or not.

It would be like accusing the faithful slave of encouraging us to visit St.Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican just for having written the article G 75 1/8 pg. 21 “An interesting tour in the Vatican”.

And is just one of many articles dedicated to this place!

It is evident that the decision to visit a church for tourist purposes, rather than a museum run by the church..or even just attending – without participating – to a funeral and/or wedding inside a church is a personal decision and no one should impose their own choices on others (Gl 6:5, Rm 14:3,10).

This has been perfectly explained in many recent articles and broadcastings.

May everyone act according to their own personal conscience without judging those who feel differently!

Not at all! First of all, we consulted with brothers at Bethel before choosing our name!

Second, we remind you that only the term “JW.ORG” and its logo of the watchtower with the blue background are protected by copyright laws, and not the letters of the alphabet j, w!

No one can copyright letters of the alphabet. There is even a hotel chain that uses the same 2 letters and does not constitute a copyright infringement – jw-marriott.marriott.com 

However when jw.org souvenirs and gadgets with background photos/videos of Caleb and Sofia and the logo “jw.org” are handed out at assemblies.. and/or any other material from the website is shared on social media (even images/videos of publications that have been included in several virtual tours during the pandemic “for a fair use”) these all constitute copyright infringements! 

If that would be the case, then also the images found in the society’s site where the Russian and Ukrainian patriarchs speak, with the corresponding flag below to indicate the language used, would have to be classified as nationalism

(Phil 4:5, Ecc 7:16)

Please remember that:

1. Sisters are often used as visitor guides even at Bethels!

2. Our tours are not performed from the podium of a Kingdon Hall and they certainly don’t compensate/substitute the function of our meetings!

Hence, the sisters who in many countries around the world conduct Bible tours (except in those few undeveloped countries where civil rights do not exist) are simply exercising their right to practice a profession. However, if any brothers feel uncomfortable having a sister as a tour guide, please do not book “In the footsteps of Paul” tour in Italian and/or Spanish.

Even if we do not share this point of view, we respect everyone’s conscienses

Because we feel that discussing our own privileges or our “position” in the congregation would be not modest!

Unfortunately, we are continually bombarded by an increasingly self-absorbed and self-congratulatory culture. Personally, we work hard not to fall into the trap of theocratic narcissism.

It’s not important how many generations back we can trace our spiritual lineage or which activities we fulfill for the organization. Like a sister said in a recent brooadcast “we do not identify ourselves based on our privileges” and we don’t like that others identify us based on these either.

We are simply proud to be slaves in the service of Jehovah, just like all of you reading this.

Privileges may come and go but our strong relationship with Jehovah remains!