Jordan Times
Sunday, July 2, 2006
Tourism witnesses 5%
growth since January
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — Tourism in Jordan grew 5 per cent during
four months of 2006, with global figures showing sustained demand in
international tourist travel.
Preliminary results released last week by the UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO),
showed that tourism to Jordan between January and April grew at a “healthy but
moderate pace.”
The figures supported the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) numbers, which showed 5.2
per cent growth in visitor arrivals compared to the same period last year.
MoT statistics showed that a total of 605,777 tourists visited Jordan in the
first quarter of 2006, compared to 576,076 visitors in the same period of 2005.
The majority of arrivals were from Arab and Gulf countries, followed by visitors
from the US and Europe.
UNWTO said that although the rate of tourism growth slowed down slightly this
year, demand for tourism travel remains high.
International tourist arrivals in the first four months of this year grew by 4.5
per cent — 236 million during the first four months of 2006, 10 million more
than in the same period of 2005, according to UNWTO.
The figures showed that the Middle East and Africa, which each registered 11 per
cent growth, achieved faster than average growth.
Tourism in Asia and the Pacific grew eight per cent, while tourism in Europe and
the Americas grew at a more moderate pace — at just under three per cent.
While Jordan showed positive growth in tourism this year, figures showed it
continued to lag substantially behind countries such as Lebanon and Bahrain.
According to the figures, despite the political situation in Lebanon during the
past year, tourism grew 49 per cent in the first four months of this year.
Bahrain achieved 30 per cent tourism growth, followed by the UAE at seven per
cent.
UNWTO described tourism growth in the Middle East this year as “very positive
overall.”
It cited Egypt’s three per cent growth between January and May, particularly, as
indicative of its efforts to restore traveller confidence in the country despite
difficulties in the past few years.
The agency, however, noted that figures for both Africa and the Middle East are
rather limited so far, so the picture could still change.
According to the UNWTO, destinations hit by the December 2004 tsunami showed
promising recovery in the first quarter of this year.
Tourist arrivals in the Maldives rose 97 per cent during the first three months
of this year, compared the same period last year.
Sri Lanka also witnessed 25 per cent increase in arrivals, while foreign
arrivals in Thailand through Bangkok airport rose by 29 per cent in the first
three months of 2006.
The UNWTO noted that the positive trends witnessed so far this year confirm that
while disruptions do affect destinations at a local level and over a specific
period of time, they do not alter global or regional traffic flows.
Commenting on these figures last week, UNWTO Secretary General Francesco
Frangialli said international tourism had entered a more stable phase of
sustained demand without big peaks and troughs.
“Although the rate of growth is slowing gradually, international tourism is
firmly on track to grow at a rate above the long-term average of four per cent
for the third year in a row now — barring unexpected events, of course,” said
Frangialli.
The UNWTO official cited terrorism, rising oil prices, particularly for aviation
fuel, and the threat of an avian flu outbreak as three key factors as potential
threats to this trend.
He also cited worries about the risk of an attack during a trip, the
multiplication of security restrictions, stricter visa-issuance rules,
restrictive immigration practices and unreasonable proliferation of “travel
advisories” issued by governments.