AMMAN — The Saudi decision to resume direct entry across
its borders will affect transit tourism in
Aqaba and reduce the number of
guests at the city’s hotels, stakeholders said on Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
Saudi Arabia used to require nationals of certain states
to spend 14 days in another country before entering. Among these were
Egyptians, who used to stay in Aqaba for two weeks.
On Thursday, the Saudi interior ministry announced the
cancellation of the requirement and allowed direct entry as of December 1.
Spokesperson for the
Ministry of Tourism, Ahmad Rifae
told
Jordan News that this type of tourism was always going to be a temporary
phenomenon, and that hoteliers and landlords did not rely on it as a main
source of income.
The ministry will hold a meeting with stakeholders and
discuss the impacts of the decision and measures to address it, Rifae said.
Abdulhakim Hindi, president of Jordan Hotel
Association said that the decision will have a negative impact on the hotels
and rent apartments in Aqaba as they have been benefiting from the transit tourism.
The initial Saudi decision raised the occupancy rates
and helped accommodation operators compensate their losses and keep their staff
on during the tourism crisis caused by
COVID-19, Hindi said.
Aqaba, 332km south of Amman, has received around 20,000
Egyptians during the implementation of the Saudi policy, Deputy Chairman of the
Aqaba Special Economic Zone’s Board of Commissioners Sharhabeel Madi said.
The procedure has contributed to increasing the period
of stay of Egyptians in Aqaba and increasing the tourism movement in the city
of Aqaba.
Discussions around ending the policy have been ongoing
in Saudi Arabia for a month as part of its measures to reopen the country, Madi
said, adding that the decision did help the Aqaba hotel sector in economically
recovering from COVID-19.
The countries whose nationals Saudi Arabia required to
spend 14 days in a third country before entry included Indonesia, Pakistan,
Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt, and India, according to the Saudi interior ministry.
People coming from those countries will now be able to
enter Saudi Arabia directly, the statement added.
Aqaba, Jordan’s only port city, is part of the Golden
Triangle (which comprises Aqaba, Petra, and Wadi Rum) that receive hundreds of
thousands of local and international visitors annually.
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