Amman, Nov. 8 (Petra)– The most important aspects of the tourist industry’s activities during the first nine months of this year were covered in the third quarter report of 2024 in the executive program of the Economic Modernization Vision 2023-2025, which focused on Jordan as a global destination.
According to the research, around 4.7 million tourists visited the Kingdom in the first nine months of 2024, generating approximately 3.9 million dinars in tourism revenue during that same time frame.
During the first nine months of 2024, the tourism industry employed roughly 56,000 people. During the same time period, 185 thousand passengers arrived in the Kingdom on 1263 aircraft operated by low-cost and regular airlines under contract with the Kingdom, and approximately 84 thousand tickets were sold under the Jordan Pass unified ticket.
According to the report, an annex to the agreement was signed with Ryanair to resume flights to Amman for the winter season 2024/2025 starting in December 2024 from six different destinations. As for Transavia France flights, the line from Paris to Amman has been resumed since the beginning of September 2024, which pertains to improving Jordan’s connectivity with the targeted countries.
The report said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will soon be signed with Ethiopian Airlines, which offers seven weekly flights from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Amman. The MOU will include joint marketing campaigns and the hosting of familiarization trips about Jordan from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Brazil.
In terms of the growth of archaeological and tourism destinations, last July saw the inclusion of the Umm al-Jimal archaeological site in the Mafraq Governorate on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In order to support archaeological research and academic studies, guarantee the site’s permanent protection and preservation, and promote it through UNESCO standards, legal framework compliance, stakeholder engagement, and local capacity building, a comprehensive plan was created to manage the site. The plan is flexible enough to accommodate future requirements.
The report demonstrated that the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority’s comprehensive strategic plan for the tourism sector was finished, that the Byzantine Church and the Ayla Islamic site in Aqaba had undergone maintenance, restoration, and rehabilitation, and that the Dhiban and Makawir archaeological sites in Madaba had undergone maintenance and restoration.
According to the report, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority signed an agreement in August 2024 with the goal of strengthening Petra’s standing as a sustainable international tourist destination by expanding the site’s capacity, enhancing access and visitor management, and guaranteeing the preservation of the site’s cultural value through the execution of several infrastructure, tourism, and sustainability projects over a four-year period.
In terms of initiatives pertaining to offering services for inclusive tourism in tourist destinations, the Citadel Mountain project was completed by September 2024 with an 86 percent completion rate. The site’s main entrance is currently being completed, and the Department of Antiquities is being consulted regarding the scientific texts and educational materials for each panel’s content.
An agreement with the Vocational Training Corporation was reached, awareness campaigns were started, and registration was made public with regard to training and job programs. Out of 9,000 candidates, 1,100 male and female trainees were chosen and assigned to the following categories: There are 200 employees in the tourism industry, 400 service providers and local experience providers, and 500 job seekers. They were dispersed to training facilities near where they lived. A total of 300 hours of instruction were required for the first phase.
//Petra// MF
08/11/2024 13:28:16