Jordan rolls out 25-year tourism master plan
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Jordan has highlighted improved tourism numbers, investment and confident sector mood. 
The tourism board recently conducted an educational seminar when Royal impetus is driving Jordan’s ambitious tourism development plans. The Hashemite Kingdom is ploughing ahead with its 25-year master plan for sector development and government figures report a 15.3% increase in 2012 tourism receipts on 2011 figures, adding US$3.47 billion to the economy.
According to Jordan’s Central Bank, increase in tourist revenues was due to pick-up of inbound tourism numbers, with an increase in visitors noted from Iraq, Libya and the US in particular. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ EMEA Q3 2012 Quarterly Newsletter reported that hotels in Jordan achieved an 18.1% increase in occupancy. Amman was the best performing city in the Middle East & Africa region for the same period, with 30.4% RevPAR growth.
Mark Walsh, portfolio director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: “Jordan currently has a pipeline of around 3,858 hotel rooms, with 2014 set to be a banner year for openings, with a number of high profile hospitality names making their market debut, and the country is definitely on the cusp of a tourism revival.”
“The current annual capacity of 3.5 million passengers at Queen Alia International airport, will be superceded by expansion plans to accommodate up to nine million passengers per year with the imminent launch of the new US$750 million terminal, and a second phase taking that to 12 million in the coming years,” added Walsh.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the total number of visitors to the country fell by 7.3% in 2012, to 6,314,250, compared to 6,812,426 in 2011, however 4,162,367 overnight tourists were recorded in 2012, up a healthy 5.1% from 3,959,643 in 2011. The number of visitors heading to Jordan’s key archaeological sites also dropped, although Petra Archaeological Park reported a 15% increase in December 2012 visitors against the previous year.
