Jordan Times
Friday, November 23, 2007
International tourist arrivals rise 5.6 per cent between January and August
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN - Demand for global travel continued to push ahead with international tourist arrivals rising 5.6 per cent during the first eight months of this year, according to the latest World Tourism Barometer.
The UN World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) report revealed that some 610 million people travelled worldwide between January and August, compared with 578 million the previous year.
It noted strong performances by emerging destinations in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East in particular, noting these regions as being the main driving force behind such growth.
The Kingdom’s tourism industry also achieved promising growth rates during this period, with more tourists visiting the country’s wealth of historical sites between January and August.
The Ministry of Tourism reported a 6.4 per cent increase in arrivals, with visitor numbers reaching 4.556 million compared to 4.280 million during the first eight months of 2006.
Tourists from Arab countries were 3.4 per cent higher, while those from Europe and the US were 35.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent higher respectively, in the same comparative period.
Arrivals from East Asia and the Pacific also increased 4.4 per cent to 62,584 visitors, compared to 59,931 in the same period last year.
Tourism industry officials and travel agencies regarded the past eight months as a very promising period for industry, noting that they expected the industry to maintain its positive performance throughout the coming months.
One travel agent told The Jordan Times that tourist traffic to the Kingdom has never looked better. She said visitor demand, particularly from Russia, was at “peak levels”.
“The tourism industry has been booming with tourists since the beginning of this year and the forecast is just as promising into the coming year,” the travel agent said.
“Hotels in Petra, the Dead Sea and Aqaba are usually full and some even stretching beyond capacity to provide services,” she added.
The travel agent, whose main focus is the Russian market, has been bringing in some 600 Russian tourists to the country each month, with week-long tours covering the Dead Sea, Aqaba and Petra.
The Russians have been coming to the Kingdom aboard four chartered weekly flights, each carrying 100 tourists, arranged by the agency.
The travel agent said Jordan’s popularity as a tourist destination is helped by its pleasant warm weather, quality hospitality services as well as its wealth of historical attractions.
Officials from other travel agencies expressed a similar view of the industry’s current status and future prospects.
General Manager of Bluebird Tours Ismail Rawashdeh, whose agency focuses on the US market, said there was a growing demand by Americans for travel to Jordan.
“We’ve been seeing a larger number of American tourists in the country this year and expect even larger numbers next year,” said Rawashdeh.
“I believe the industry has been doing very well so far, and it is only going to get better,” he added.
Rawashdeh told The Jordan Times tourists spend up to a week touring key sites including Aqaba, Wadi Rum, Petra, Mount Nebo and Madaba.
He noted that the improved tourist traffic flow is a result of the Kingdom’s efforts to enhance its reputation as a “safe and secure” destination, as well as shifting Western media coverage of the region.
Compared to last year, media coverage of the volatile Middle East region, which often indirectly included Jordan, has subsided, said Rawashdeh.
UNWTO officials noted that preliminary 2007 results confirmed the resilience of tourism demand despite several risks and downsides such as the avian influenza, rising fuel prices and increased taxation on air transport, inflationary risks and higher interest rates.
However, they warned that some of these factors had “already started to weaken consumer confidence in some markets,” adding that “this might spread wider and affect, at some point, the overall demand for international travel”.
International arrivals to Asia and the Pacific rose by 10 per cent between January and August, according to the World Tourism Barometer, with the Middle East and Africa following behind at 8 per cent.
Growth for both Europe and the Americas stood at 4 per cent - one percentage point down from 2006’s level in the case of Europe, but twice the rate of growth of last year for the Americas, the report said.
The UNWTO projected that the trend was likely to continue through the remainder of the year, with year-end growth estimated at 5.7 per cent, putting international arrivals at 880-900 million.
Launched in June 2003, the barometer is a thrice-yearly activity of the WTO aimed at monitoring the short-term evolution of tourism and providing the sector with adequate and timely information.
It comprises three permanent elements: An overview of short-term tourism data from destination countries and air transport, the WTO Panel of Tourism Experts with a retrospective and prospective evaluation of tourism performance, and selected economic data.