‘250,000 people visited book fair’

AMMAN — Despite booksellers’ complaints of slow demand at the 15th Amman International Book Fair, organisers on Saturday said the event attracted around a quarter-million visitors.

“Around 250,000 people visited the stalls and the activities held during the fair this year,” Wael Abed Rabo, vice-president of the Jordanian Publishers Union (JPU), told The Jordan Times. 

“Two lectures were held every day, discussing a number of issues ranging from political to social,” he added. 

Organised by the JPU, the fair concluded on Saturday with the participation of over 500 local, regional and international publishing houses from 25 countries.

Booksellers interviewed by The Jordan Times late last week said that the lack of proper promotion of this year’s fair and financial difficulties facing consumers had reduced the demand on books.

Visitors also said the exhibition was not properly organised, while others complained of its “commercial prices”.

However, Abed Rabo said the sales were good. 

“People bought 75 per cent of books displayed at the fair,” he added, noting that 500,000 titles were on offer during the 10-day fair,  

Acknowledging that mistakes were made during this year’s event, the JPU vice president said organisers will work to avoid these oversights at the next book fair.