Jordan's tourism industry makes gains in a difficult year

Well, the JTB can in fact breathe a huge sigh of relief, because the country actually saw a 13 per cent increase in its number of visitors last year, lifting to nearly 6.6 million, as opposed to 5.8 million in 2005. The statistics, cited by the Jordan Times, show that, unsurprisingly, Gulf tourists, for a long while now the backbone of the kingdom's tourist arrivals, once again led the way, accounting for almost 30 per cent of all visitors and their overall total of 1.9 million was a solid 8.4 per cent increase on the previous year.

More Americans, less package tours

But one of the more encouraging statistics released by the ministry is that last year Jordan witnessed an impressive 46.4 per cent jump in the number of visitors coming from the US. Although the total of 163,917 isn't huge, it is a positive indicator that American tourists are increasingly attracted to the kingdom and the JTB will be hoping this lucrative market expands at the same rate this year. Indeed, visitors from Europe also rose in 2006 with over 30,000 more tourists making the trip and taking the total well above 400,000.

One area where regional tensions and conflicts did make an impact was in the number of holidaymakers on package tours visiting Jordan. The 34 day war in Lebanon, which started in July and ended in August, certainly led to the cancellation of tours which would have included Jordan in their itinerary. As a consequence, the amount of package tour visitors declined by 18 per cent, slipping below 300,000.

Similarly, some of the kingdom's most popular sites, such as the ancient city of Petra and Mount Nebo, also recorded a drop in visitor numbers. Israel's attack on Lebanon seemed to have a direct effect on Petra's tourism industry as the site saw a 30 per cent nosedive in visitors during July, at the height of the conflict. The fatal shooting at Amman's Roman amphitheatre on September 4, which killed one tourist and wounded six others, would also have done little to persuade visitors to venture out to historical sites.

The overall lift in the number of visitors, however, was good news for the economy as tourism revenue increased by 14 per cent in 2006, reaching $1.6 billion, and accounting for more than 10 per cent of the kingdom's GDP.

Spreading the word

With Jordan relying heavily on tourism as a major component of its economy, the JTB is looking to improve its exposure in some existing, but under-exploited, markets and develop new ones too. Earlier this month, the JTB headed up Jordan's delegation to the ITB Berlin travel exhibition and its German office would have been encouraged by the 44 per cent spike in the number of tourists from Germany visiting the kingdom last year; with around 60 million Germans taking holidays abroad each year, there is also room for improvement. Jordan's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Osama Dabbas told the Petra news agency the country is looking to tap into new markets in Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

Jordan is certainly doing its homework, quite literally, on its tourism sector and the National Tourism Visitors Survey, which is a joint venture between the USAID funded Jordan Tourism Development Project, or Sihaya, and the Department of Statistics, should, according to the Jordan Times, be completed later this year. The study involves interviewing 30,000 people who are about to leave Jordan and 15,000 who have just arrived. It is hoped the survey will shed light on issues such as expenditure, type of accommodation chosen, duration of visit and activities undertaken in order to build up a more accurate profile of the kingdom's tourists.

Jordan's focused tourism strategy has undoubtedly played its part in the kingdom already enjoying a sizeable 23.1 per cent rise in its revenues for the month of January with an additional 60,000 tourists entering the country, when compared to last year. If promotional drives such as the JTB's 'Jordan in Spring' can prove successful, and 2007 is a relatively stable year in the Levant, the kingdom has every reason to hope its overall total of tourists will be close to 7.5 million this year.