Jordan’s tourism industry looking to ‘modern, innovative’ solutions for recovery

AMMAN — The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) on Sunday discussed modern and innovative solutions offered by business entrepreneurs and start-up owners in the tourism industry.

The JTB said that participants in several virtual conferences, organised by the Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan (Int@j), discussed means to promote tourism in the Kingdom during and following the recovery period from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the virtual meetings, which were moderated by Int@j CEO Nidal Bitar, JTB Director General Abdulrazzaq Arabiat said that the tourism sector’s revenues in 2019 totalled $5.3 billion, before dropping to almost zero after the lockdown that started in mid-March to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

The JTB is currently working on boosting domestic tourism through launching programmes for visiting several tourist sites, Arabiat said. Forty per cent of the cost of the programmes will be subsidised by the government, totalling JD10 million in support.

The JTB director general also said that the board is currently giving virtual tours for tourism purposes using 360-degree technology, in addition to providing smart applications by specialised entrepreneurs in the tourism sector. 

Religious tourism is expected to recover after the coronavirus crisis, as Jordan is home to 42 religious tourist sites, he said, noting that the medical and adventure tourism sectors will be next to recover.