AMMAN — Jordan’s
hotels are bracing for a potential decline in inbound tourism and hotel
reservations amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of the Omicron
variant. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the tourism industry in Jordan
has been particularly vulnerable to economic losses, and the arrival of new
variants will only serve to create further challenges.
اضافة اعلان
President of the
Jordan Hotel Association Abdelhakim Al-Hindi estimates that there has been a 20
percent drop in total hotel reservations across the Kingdom, since the initial discovery
of the Omicron variant globally, according to a local media organization. He
said that much of this decline is coming from numerous cancellations of hotel
reservations, due to the threat of Omicron and the stringent new local regulations
that have resulted from it.
Chairman of the
Dead Sea Spa Hotel Company Michael Nazzal told
Jordan News that Omicron is bound to negatively affect the tourism
sector and the hotel industry in Jordan. “Since Jordan has become a ‘red
country’ to most of Europe and the US, it’s very difficult for some tourists to
come to Jordan.”
Because foreign
tourists have to quarantine in their respective countries, Jordan will
accordingly lose much more than 20 percent of its hotel reservations, Nazzal
predicted, before adding that this will most likely be the case “until Jordan’s
situation improves in relation to Europe and the US.”
According to
Nazzal, the Dead Sea Spa Resort, like all hotels and resorts throughout the
Kingdom, is complying with all the legally mandated COVID-19 protocols
enshrined by Defense Order 35, which includes checking the vaccination status
of incoming tourists, but that this is currently being done amidst a “reduction
in clientele”.
Nazzal also
assured that most of the economic challenges facing Jordanian hotels are
exclusively a result of the pandemic. “Before the pandemic, the hotel industry was
doing just fine, but then the pandemic came and really impacted tourism across
the whole world. As long as Jordan remains a ‘red country’, boosting
reservations will be difficult.”
May Sammour, the
general manager of Ayass Hotel in Amman also told
Jordan News that Jordan’s health
situation has most likely led to a number of recent cancellations for hotel
reservations, while noting that new institutional quarantine measures could also
be deterring future visitors at the moment.
“Anticipated hotel
reservations at the moment are below what was expected for the holiday season.
If foreign visitors will have to pay additional costs for PCR tests and
quarantine, despite coming for leisure and tourism, they will most probably
rethink (visiting) Jordan.”
Sammour also
confirmed that Ayass Hotel is complying with the latest COVID-19 protocols from
the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Jordan Hotels Association,
which mandates that the hotel’s workforce must be fully vaccinated in order to
legally operate.
“If any employee
isn’t fully vaccinated in the tourism sector, then they must provide PCR test
results twice a week. This regulation is not confined to Ayass Hotel, but is
applied across the whole industry.”
Managing Director
of the Jordan Tourism Board, Abdul Razzaq Arabiyat told
Jordan News that any negative consequences that other countries
face from Omicron will also most likely be felt by Jordan.
“Contrary to what
some might assume, the board has actually noticed some promising growth rates
for hotels during October and November of 2021, before the disruptive
announcement of the Omicron variant. We need to wait and see data from upcoming
weeks about the variant’s measurable effects on the latest numbers,” he
remarked.
Arabiyat assured
Jordan News that the Ministry of Health
is vigorously monitoring the industry’s compliance with all the required
protocol measures, and that they are taking the issue very seriously.
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