AMMAN — The Kingdom’s
tourism revenues saw an increase of $158.3 million in
January, or 188.4 percent, compared to the same period in 2021, to reach $242.3
million, according to Central Bank of Jordan data issued on Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
This is
attributed by the CBJ to a rise in the number of tourists in January by about
138,700, bringing the total to 205,500 tourists.
This increase, however, does not seem to reflect on the tourism sector whose
workers still suffer from the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic and call on the
government to continue supporting the sector.
President of
the
Jordan Hotel Association Abdel Hakim Al-Hindi told
Jordan News that this
increase failed to translate in support for the hospitality industry, adding
that “we have been suffering since the onset of the pandemic”.
Hindi also said
that Jordan’s being classified as a red country “worsened our situation”, and
expressed hope that tourism will pick up in the second half of this year,
especially since the government took the recent decision to ease pandemic-related
restrictions which will likely help the tourism sector.
“I hope that the
second half will witness exceptionally high occupancy rates, to compensate for the
losses the hospitality industry incurred during the first half of the year.”
Tour guide Daoud Samaan told
Jordan News that many of those who work in
the tourism sector have gone broke.
“I am not sure if the tourism income increased
or not, what I am sure about is that we did not feel the benefits of this
increase and that our situation is getting worse day by day,” he said.
Samaan added that the tourism sector needs a huge improvement
so that the workers can stand on their feet again.
“If the situation stays as it is, I believe that hundreds of
tour guides, for example, will be in debt.”
“The last two years were very bad, and anything would be
better now, but that is not enough. If we really need to move on and see the
tourism income increase, new government plans should be developed,” he said.
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities spokesman Ahmad Al-Rifai
told
Jordan News that the national strategy for tourism, which was launched by
Minister Nayef Al-Fayez, aims to support the tourism sector which has been
suffering since on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that, starting with the beginning the year, the government
has been implementing part of the strategy, to support the tourism sector, and “this
increase in revenues from tourism was
expected.”
He also said
that the “ministry is looking forward to further increase in the next months,
especially since the government had taken the decision to ease restrictions on
the sector, which, I can say, shall have a positive impact on the sector”.
Tourism income from non-resident Jordanians constituted 40.7
percent of the total income, followed by income from
Arab nationals, with 22.3
percent of the total tourism income; a breakdown of numbers shows that Iraqis contributed
7.7 percent, Syrians 4.0 percent, and Palestinians 3.4 percent.
In third place came tourists from
Arab Gulf countries, which contributed
19.8 percent: Saudis 10.4 percent, Kuwaitis 4.5 percent, and Omanis 2.2 percent.
In fourth place came Europeans, mostly from
Germany,
France,
Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, and Hungary, with a contribution
of 9.2 percent, which makes up a total share of 5.8 percent of the total
tourism income.
The US accounted for 2.8 percent of the total tourism income.
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