Global Arab Network | Numbers on the rise - Tourism contributes up to 23 % of Jordan GDP

Translate this article to your language:

GANPublications

e-Publications

Add Site to Favorites

Add Page to Favorites

Make Homepage

Share This Page

RSS Feed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |

Numbers on the rise - Tourism contributes up to 23 % of Jordan GDP

Monday, 16 August 2010 13:39

Numbers on the rise - Tourism contribute up to 23 % of Jordan GDP

Jordan’s tourism industry has a new voice in cabinet, fresh momentum and reinforced sense of optimism, though it still faces some of the old challenges of broadening the appeal of its brand and boosting visitor numbers outside of the traditional sun-and-sand season.

Tourism is a vital sector of the Jordanian economy, contributing around 14% of GDP, a figure the World Travel & Tourism Council predicts will rise to some 23% by 2020, providing employment to 435,000 people.

One of the people tasked with seeing that Jordan achieves this goal is the new tourism minister, Suzanne Afaneh, who was appointed to the cabinet in late July as part of a reshuffle carried out by Prime Minister Samir Rifai. Coming from a strong media and communications background, Afaneh replaced Maha Khatib, who had held the post for three years.

Afaneh comes to the job at a time when the local tourism industry is enjoying a boom. A report released by the Jordan Tourism Board showed that more than 3.6m tourists visited Jordan in the first six months of the year, a 24% jump on the first half of 2009.

The growing interest in Jordan has prompted the national carrier, Royal Jordanian, to increase flight numbers, with the airline announcing on August 10 that it had operated 3538 departures in July, 9% more than in the same month last year, while it posted a 14.6% rise in passengers, having carried 330,000 for the month.

It is not just tourist numbers that are on the increase: visitors are giving their foreign currency a holiday in Jordan too, with revenue from tourism climbing by 36% in the first half of the year, according to figures released by the state in early August. Tourism brought in more than $1.56bn in the January to June term, well up on the $1.15bn for the initial six months of 2009.

All of this increased activity, and the money it brings in, has helped the government slash the state deficit, which has been cut by 70% in the first six months of the year, the Ministry of Finance reported on August 3. The positive result has in part being attributed to a solid rise in domestic revenues, to which the uptick in tourism income made a significant contribution.

However, while inheriting a portfolio that is exhibiting robust health, one of Afaneh’s first jobs was to deal with a crisis, one most surely not of Jordan’s making.

On August 2, a small rocket struck the Red Sea town of Aqaba, killing one person and wounding four others. Initial investigations determined that the rocket had apparently been fired from Egyptian territory in the Sinai and had been aimed at the Israeli resort town of Eilat.

Having visited the area the same day as the attack, the minister played down the impact of the blast, saying life had returned to normal within hours.

“We arrived in Aqaba after the accident and tourists are still there going about their business. Some of them are on the beach and others are in hotels as usual,” she told The Jordan Times. “We talked to some tourists who said this incident would not affect their plans and they are enjoying the weather in Aqaba.”

The incident appears not to have dented visitor enthusiasm for Jordan and its Red Sea resorts. Aqaba’s hotels reported that occupancy remained at around 90% and there had been no exodus of tourists from the popular resort area.

While the headline figures look solid, the Jordanian tourism sector does face some challenges, most notably the need to turn itself into a year-round destination. While its first-half results have been strong, and the autumn period expected to show bumper returns, there is a traditional slowing in the winter months. Turning this around may be somewhat difficult, given Jordan’s accepted image of sun and sand, both along its coastal strip and in the interior, but is important if Jordan is to sustain the growth it is posting and achieve the targets set for tourism in the future.

Global Arab Network

This article is published in partnership with Oxford Business Group

Add comment

The opinions of the authors in articles published are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Arab Network
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Global Arab Network