Low-cost flights take tourism to new heights — stakeholders

AMMAN — Low-cost carrier (LCC) flights have improved the accessibility of tourist locations in the Kingdom, according to sector experts.

Jordan Society of Tourism and Travel Agents (JSTA) President Mohammad Samih told The Jordan Times on Monday that the Kingdom “still relies on regular airlines for the most part”, noting that packages and round trips tend to employ their services. 

“LCC do not deal with travel agents and offices, and their work is all done online, but they offer added value for low-budget travellers and young people,” Samih noted. 

For his part, Chief Commissioner of Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Suleiman Farajat said that the Kingdom’s tourism revenues have increased after the rise in LCC flights. 

Farajat noted that LCC flights are important in marketting the Kingdom’s tourism destinations, especially given that such flights are always available at a low cost, even during peak seasons. 

The number of tourists in the Kingdom in general has increased, Farajat said, noting that Petra specifically has been receiving around 2,000 visitors daily since the beginning of 2020.

Petra has “never witnessed such figures”, he added, attributing the increase to LCC flights. 

The Kingdom’s tourism income increased in 2019 to reach around JD4.11 billion, marking a 10.2 per cent rise compared with 2018. The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) attributed this increase to the growth in the number of overnight tourists to 5.36 million in 2019, a 8.9 per cent increase compared with 2018, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported last week.

On a monthly level, the Kingdom’s revenues from tourism income increased during December 2019 to reach $437 million — a growth of 14 per cent compared with the same period in 2018 — as a result of a 16.9 per cent rise in the total number of tourists, Petra reported at the time. 

In a statement released in October of last year, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Majd Shweikeh was quoted as saying that easyJet and Ryanair flights will “positively reflect” on the tourism and commercial sectors and contribute to an increased number of European tourists to the Kingdom.