Could you outline the essential characteristics of tourism in Jordan?
Our motto for Jordan is that it is the sunrise of the new millennium. Now, why visit us, and not others? To Israelis I say: " Because we are east of you, so we get the sunrise a few minutes before you do." But, to the entire world we say: "Because this is the sunrise of faith to mankind." It is here where the three religions were deeply rooted, it is here where the Moses parted with his people and it is here, in Mount Nebo, where he had shown the people the Promised Land. It is here, in Jordan, where John the Baptist received Jesus to be baptized in Bethany beyond the Jordan, a site that has just been excavated and it is the authentic site of baptism. And baptism is the commission, the commission is the beginning, the beginning is the sunrise. So, Jordan is, again, the sunrise of Christianity. Islam came out of Mecca, but the window of Islam to the world was Jordan. It was here where Islam first came out and had its first contact with the world at large, because this part of Jordan was called the Western Arabia in those days. It is the sunrise of the new millennium, and it is also the sunrise of faith.
Is this spiritual characteristic of tourism being highlighted by the visit of the Pope next month?
This is true, because the Pope is following the steps of Christ. And the steps are the Patriarchs, the Apostles, the Prophets and the Messengers. And that is how every single one of them set foot in Jordan. Everyone. And not everyone has done so on the West Bank, or in Syria, or in Lebanon, or in Iraq, or in Egypt, or in Arabia. You will find that Mohamed, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Lot, Jethro, Job, Aaron, they all set their foot here. This brings this country into a unique position. We should be the core, and not the gateway. We could be the gateway of, not the gateway to, not just the place you pass, but the place where you stop and you "shop" for knowledge. And this has given us great importance. Particularly now that the leadership, towards the end of the millennium, picked up the issue of peace, and they did not want to part away from the second millennium before closing the chapter of animosities, quarrel and dispute. So they can step into the new millennium with the slogan of His Majesty "In Faith, in Peace, in Partnership". In faith, following our values, following the ethics of men towards men. Peace is within ourselves, so we can do things with conviction, with contention and with happiness. And be in peace with our neighbours, which is our case.
Do you feel that the peace process and the positive movement towards lasting peace has really helped the tourism sectors in the past four years?
It has. But when we talk about peace, the peace for our neighbours, then we have availed the region to be peaceful, we have availed tranquility and tolerance, reconciliation. With that, His Majesty continues to say: Partnership. This Partnership is being a part of the world, being a part of this globalization, part of the World Trade Organization, being part of the United Nation Peace Core and Peace Force. Our boys are in East Timor, they are in Kosovo, they are in Uganda, our Jordanian boys are in the Blue Berets, are messengers of peace, keepers of peace. We have to build ourselves on faith and peace, to strengthen our values and our willingness of facing and living up to our expectations. Then we can be a part of this universe.
Having said that, look at all the industries like IT, tourism or QIZ (qualifying industrial zones). Look at every one of them, you will see that we are speaking about faith, peace and partnership. And in the tourism sector in particular. It has helped us to increase numbers of people, it has helped us bring more interest in our country. Had it not been for peace, Bethany beyond Jordan, the baptism site would not have been discovered. It is 1800m east of the river, in a small ravine, really beautiful, it is hidden, if you come from a far, you will not see it. John the Baptist advocated preaching that baptism and repentance has to be in pure, clear water. It had to be spring water. So, the river could not have at all been the place of baptism. This was a revolution even in the minds of the people who have always looked at the symbolic, traditional site to be in the river on the other side of the bank. Now, this has, all of a sudden, aroused the interest of people from all over the world to come and to be either baptized or to come and to see the place. It is not open yet, but it will be a place where His Holiness will come to visit. And he is getting a message of peace. After all, he is the representative of the Prince of Peace on Earth. | We have to develop our sites, we have to train and educate people, we have to trigger and activate promotion. All this comes out of a vision statement from this Ministry and from the sector. Our vision statement states economic prosperity through sustainable tourism development. And we have the Tourism Address which defines what tourism we are looking for. So far, we have not gone for the Sharm Al Sheik or the Red Sea tourism, nor the North African beach tourism. What we have gone for is spiritual, cultural, historical. Of course, there is also recreational, therapeutic, like the hot water springs. The core is doing something other than marine tourism.
Now we have found ourselves abating the resources that we have managed to get here and there. There is also a dedicated private sector that is leading into this. With the private sector's lead, the government, as one of the vision statements, had to act, update the by-laws, particularly in the investment. In promotion, the concept that we have now is to go to the media, to the public, to the trade media. Trade media is closer to the travel agent, the decision maker, because people now, particularly in the West, have their family doctor, family lawyer, and they also have their family travel agent, somebody they feel comfortable with. What we can promise is to give you a real feeling of what we have. Go to the Dead Sea, see what we have. Go to Petra, see what we have. Go to Bethany, see what is there.
What is one of your most important personal accomplishments that you have done within the Ministry to promote tourism, something that you can say really made a difference to promote Jordan abroad?
I believe it is, first of all, getting to acknowledge and recognize that tourism here is the propeller of national economy, which made us go straight into the vision statement "Economic prosperity through sustainable tourism development". With both the private sector and the Ministry we have expanded that vision statement into a mission statement: in seven pillars, of seven components, beginning with the management of sites, the availability of jobs and foreign exchange, the inter-changeability of private sector, public sector, laws, the update of laws and regulations in both private and government, opportunities for investment, to the campaign of our Royals to preserve the awareness of the interest for archeology, tourism and tourist sites, to endorse the capacity of the Ministry, and, the last of the seven pillars, to plan, organize and launch the promotional campaign. Once these are established, each will have its own policies, its own strategies, its own tools of implementation, and this is a great achievement because each sector in each profession went out and sought its own interests in its by-laws and regulations. And together we are bringing a product that is now ready to enter the millennium, the 21st century.
Another achievement is to bring to existence a JTB, the Jordan Tourism Board, and in two weeks we will be calling for elections of the new board members.
I understand that the Jordan Tourism Board is a private-public partnership?
It is a 13 member board, with 11 private and 2 government sectors. I happen to be the chairperson. We are talking about achievements in the sense of sharing with the world. This, I consider, is an achievement of the tourism sector, the archeology sector and the Ministry for having been able to dig, excavate, restore and, to certain extent, preserve the site of Bethany beyond the Jordan. It is the settlement of John the Baptist. This is one of the 3 holiest sites in Christianity. Christ was born in Bethlehem, was baptized here, in Jordan, in Bethany, so we are going from birth, through baptism to the crucifixion in Jerusalem. This is an achievement. But above all that are the private and the public sector which have believed in the importance of tourism.
Do you have a last message for our readers?
There is an old saying, and His Majesty, the late King, made a reference to that: "Jordan is an open air museum". Come and visit and meet the people who are from the ruling family, the King, the government, the people, who are custodians of these holy, historical, cultural sites. |
Ministry of Tourism