Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tourism strategy seeks
to turn Jordan into a competitive tourist destination
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — Tourism officials are accelerating their track towards building a solid
industry at home to remedy prevalent shortcomings that have prevented the sector
from progressing.
In a meeting with the press on Tuesday, Minister
of Tourism and Environment Alia Bouran said Jordan, with its limited resources,
was reaching new heights to develop a competitive tourism sector.
The government's new National Tourism Strategy (NTS), she said, is expected to
be the main engine to achieve that over the next six years.
“We've taken a new direction to achieve a sustainable tourism economy by
focusing more stringently on training service providers, stronger marketing and
enhanced private sector involvement,” said Bouran.
If carried out effectively, the NTS is projected to draw some 12 million
tourists a year, generating JD1.3 billion in tourism receipts and 51,000 new
jobs by the year 2010, she added.
The minister, who was accompanied by Secretary General Sultan Abu Jaber,
Department of Antiquities Director Fawaz Khreisha and Marwan Khoury from the
Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), called upon the media for their feedback to help
realise the strategy's vision.
The NTS 2004-2010 looks to elements such as effective marketing, enhancing
product development and competitiveness, human resource development and
improvements to the institutional and regulatory framework.
The tourism industry has been at the front of the national agenda, generating
around JD600 million in tourism earnings last year, compared to JD480 million
and JD280 million from the textiles and mining industries respectively.
It remains the second largest earner of GDP following remittances from abroad.
However, despite such gains the sector has considerably lagged behind some of
its neighbouring and Mediterranean countries. For example, the Kingdom's 2002
tourism revenues of JD511 million paled in comparison to Egypt's JD3,076
million.
Tourist spending patterns in Jordan were also considerably lower than in other
Arab countries. According to 2002 figures, the average tourist in Jordan spent
$435 during a visit here, compared to $600 in Morocco, $1,000 in Egypt, $1,200
in Lebanon and $1,800 in Israel.
Tourism sector representatives have often attributed low spending levels to the
short length of visitor stays.
Khoury said the JTB, along with other partners at the local level, continues to
vest efforts to extend the duration of a tourist's stay. This, however, required
strong a promotional marketing effort along with a strong infrastructure base
and quality services.
“Carrying forth the message of Jordan's stability, the hospitality of its
people, smooth and safe travel within the country. And the range of other
qualities that distinguish this country is a costly and complex effort,” said
Khoury.
“When people buy a seat on a plane, they need to know what they are getting,” he
added.
Having a solid tourism sector would encourage travellers from the US, Europe and
other long-haul destinations who visit the region rather than individual
countries, to spend more time here,” he added.
With its JD6 million budget, the JTB has worked hard to promote the Kingdom to
the global community. Working against the worldwide travel slump following Sept.
11, Khoury said the JTB has remained adamant on keeping Jordan on the tourism
map.
The JTB has continued to conduct familiarisation trips for journalists and
writers and travel agents to give them a firsthand look of the country's
treasures.
It is currently continuing promotional activities at malls in eight Gulf cities,
including Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Bouran described the JTB's present budget is a “drop in the bucket,” compared to
that of the Cyprus tourist board which stands at approximately $48 million and
Greece at $130 million.
Under the new strategy, the JTB's budget is expected to gradually increase from
JD9.6 million in 2004 to JD26 million in 2010.
Khreisha said the private sector was being encouraged to take a more prominent
role in developing and upgrading some of the country's tourist sites. According
to Khreisha, dialogue is underway with a number of private sector entities to
under take such investments with MoT supervision, under special conditions and
within a specific time frame.
Qualms about service, direction
Members of the media yesterday agreed that Jordan's tourism sector was
comparatively weaker than many of its neighbouring Arab and Gulf countries and
required a “practical” strategy that would achieve aspired for objectives. One
journalist noted that the influx of Jordanians and other Arab nationals to
countries such as Syria and Lebanon for their holidays signalled a weakness in
the home sector.
“Spending a weekend at the Dead Sea or Petra is simply very expensive. I usually
end up going to Latakia in Syria for a short break because it's more
affordable,” said the journalist.
“One can't expect to encourage local tourism or attract others from neighbouring
countries under such conditions,” he added.
Bouran acknowledged the high cost of taking a holiday at home, noting that the
private sector had its independence in setting prices. She, however, pointed out
that competition resulting from current investments in the hospitality sector
would eventually even-out high prices.
The government last year helped encourage local tourism in Petra under a
subsidised room rate package scheme. The initiative drew some 25,000 Jordanians
to the rose-red city since it was launched. The scheme was reintroduced last
month, attracting another 1,500 Jordanians in the first 10 days of this month.
Bouran yesterday called upon members of the media for their positive
contribution to help push forward the strategy. “Criticising the strategy simply
for the sake of criticism,” the minister noted was “counterproductive.”
“We realise the shortcomings that prevail within the industry. The strategy is
designed to remedy these areas and work towards a solid sector that will boost
the economy and turn Jordan into a competitive tourist destination,” said Bouran.