Jordan Times
Monday, June 5, 2006
New portal project to
promote Mediterranean tourism
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — The Royal Scientific Society (RSS) on Sunday introduced around 120
tourism sector representatives to a portal project designed to promote
Mediterranean destinations to global travellers.
The Daedalus project will establish a network of information on eight countries,
seeking to enhance the tourism sectors and cultural heritage around the
Mediterranean basin.
Participants attending the one-day workshop “Tourism and Cultural Heritage in
the Mediterranean Countries” were introduced to the portal project and trained
on how to use the site with the purpose of upgrading tourism in Jordan.
“We invited all concerned tourism sector representatives to explain the
significance of the Daedalus portal and encourage them to sign up,” said RSS
Information Technology Centre Director Saqer Abdel Rahim
Abdel Rahim told The Jordan times that the EU-funded project, which has been in
the making over the past three years, will help travellers planning to visit the
region by providing a unified website with up-to-date information.
Abdel Rahim said the portal would include a list of tourism sites available in
each country, whether archaeological, historical or religious, as well as
cultural sites, festivities and information on hotels.
According to the RSS, the project is designed to provide professionals and the
market with a flexible, dynamic, cost-effective and easy to deploy reference
framework to promote and improve Mediterranean tourism.
Among those invited yesterday were hotel representatives, tour and travel
agents, the Jordan Tourism Board and the Department of Antiquities.
Walid Khasawneh, acting director of the RSS Marketing and Public and
International Relations Department, expressed hope that the project would
benefit the tourism industry in Jordan.
Jordan Tourism Board Deputy Director Fayez Khoury said the tourism sector is one
of the most important sources of income, as it constituted about 11 per cent of
the gross national product in 2005, providing 26,000 jobs.