Jordan Times
Monday, May 17, 2004
Tourism strategy unveiled
DEAD SEA (Petra) — His Majesty King Abdullah on
Sunday announced the national strategic plan drawn up by the Ministry of Tourism
to enhance competiton in the field of tourism investments and strengthen its
contribution to GDP.
The King highlighted the importance of the tourism sector and its significant
ability to attract investments, create more jobs and enrich the state budget.
The strategy was unveiled before international travel and tourism experts on the
sidelines of the WEF meetings.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and Minister of Environment Alia
Hattough-Bouran said the strategy is designed to reduce taxes on hotel room
rates from 16 to 6 per cent. She added that the ministry is considering
decreasing taxes in restaurants at a later stage.
The strategy also includes, for the first time, opening the door for the private
sector investments in the Kingdom's various tourism and archaeological sites
within a framework of conditions set by the ministry.
The strategy estimates that 12 million tourists will have visited the Kingdom by
2010 and 91,000 new jobs would have been created, Bouran said.