King, Queen urge innovative solution to boost tourism

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday stressed the important role of the tourism sector in the Kingdom and its significant contribution to sustainable growth and job creation. 

At a meeting with tourism sector representatives and investors at Al Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah highlighted Jordan’s edge as “an oasis of peace and security” and the need to use available capabilities to enhance the Kingdom’s tourism regionally and internationally. 

“Jordan’s priority today is to address the economic situation and develop local tourism, which have been affected by regional crises,” His Majesty said at the meeting, attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania.

King Abdullah also underscored the importance of developing the tourism sector in line with the best practices, especially in medical tourism, in a way that contributes to enhancing the sector’s competitiveness in the region and attracting more tourists.

He also stressed the importance of focusing on rehabilitating Jordanian capacities to meet the sector’s needs, which would provide the Jordanian youth with wider opportunities to enter local and neighbouring markets, in addition to increasing women’s participation and contribution to the sector, according to a Royal Court statement.

King Abdullah also urged the private sector to start tourism investments in other governorates than the capital “to optimally utilise the rich diversity of the Jordanian tourist product”.

Queen Rania called for benefiting from successful international experiences in the tourism field, especially since the Kingdom boasts a wide variety of tourist products.

The Queen also urged enhancing cultural activities in the summer and implementing promotional campaigns with public messages revolving around the security and stability the Kingdom enjoys in the region, in addition to launching creative initiatives to attract more tourists. 

She highlighted the significance of establishing colleges specialised in training workers in the tourism and hospitality industry to provide the sector with qualified human resources.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said that work is currently under way, in partnership with stakeholders from the public and private sectors, to boost tourism through developing necessary legislative tools and work out a solution to the problem of duplicity in tourism authorities.  

In an interview with the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez said that there are many projects to promote tourism in the Kingdom, such as the “Jordan is more beautiful” campaign, which will be launched to promote local tourism and urging citizens to visit Petra through offering incentives.

Michael Nazzal, president of the Jordan Federation of Tourism Associations, told Petra that the meeting discussed increasing the marketing budget to promote tourism in potential markets overseas.

He also added that there will be promotional campaigns through the Internet and television targeting Arab tourism, especially in the Gulf.