Jordan aims to revive its declining tourism industry

Saturday, November 6, 2021

The Dead Sea in Jordan is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet, with around 34% salinity. Its name in Hebrew translates as the Salt Sea. However, the Dead Sea is dying, its waters vanishing at an alarming rate.

With each passing year, the possibility of enjoying a visit to its shores keeps receding. According to environmental group EcoPeace Middle East, the water level drops about one meter per year. Similar to the Dead Sea, Jordan’s tourist numbers had been drying up in the last decade before almost evaporating during the Covid pandemic.

In 2020, tourism revenues fell to $1.4 billion, a fall of 76% on the previous year, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. The sudden plunge was a major blow to Jordan, which had been trying to reverse a slump which, according to the World Bank, saw tourist numbers drop from 8 million in 2010 to 4.24 million in 2016.

In its latest effort to win back visitors, Jordan’s Tourism Board has launched a new campaign, branding itself the “Kingdom of Time.” The country’s tourism minister, Nayef Al-Fayez, used the recent World Travel Market trade event in London to trumpet Jordan’s push for more visitors.

He mentioned that Jordan is back and ready to unveil its new tourism brand as an authentic reflection of a destination which, within a land that can be traversed by car in less than a day, fuses together a dizzying collage of geological and natural diversity, historical richness, a tradition of spirituality and faith, and a contemporary Arabian culture of openness and warm hospitality that welcomes everyone for leisure, business and healing.

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