Job fair seeks to attract local labour to tourism sector

AMMAN — As promising as it is for Jordan, the tourism sector is still facing challenges related to attracting Jordanian workforce, according to officials.

While the sector employs around 50,000 people, only 9,000 of whom are non-Jordanians, opportunities to increase the local labour force’s participation in hospitality jobs are not fully seized, according to the Labour Ministry. 

In a bid to attract more Jordanians to the sector, the ministry, in cooperation with the UNDP, will hold a job fair in Amman on Sunday and Monday.

“The two-day event will bring together more than 40 restaurants and hotels in Amman and the Dead Sea to meet potential employees,”Asmaa Naasan from the Labour Ministry told The Jordan Times on Thursday. 

Nearly 1,000 vacancies will be available at the fair in all hospitality, logistic and tourism fields.

In a statement received by The Jordan Times, the ministry underlined that the fair  “manifests a genuine partnership between the public and private sectors, bringing job seekers face-to-face with the employers under one room”. 

Head of the UNDP socioeconomic portfolio, Nadia Awamleh, voiced the UN agency’s support for the fair, particularly for a “promising” sector as tourism. 

“The sector is ready to hire more Jordanian workforce… the UNDP is committed to supporting employment initiatives as part of its strategy to combat poverty,” she told The Jordan Times, adding that the programme adopts a demand-driven approach when backing employment initiatives. 

With less than 10 per cent of the sector’s employees being women, Awamleh acknowledged that the “culture of shame” is still prevalent, hindering their participation in the field. 

The job fair will be held at the Century Park Hotel in Amman from 10am to 3pm on Sunday and Monday.