Kingdom’s creative industries ‘promising’

AMMAN — The creative industries sector is among the Kingdom’s “most promising sectors”, the National Economic Workshop highlighted.

The subsectors of creative industries are associated with media — notably films, music, audiovisual, new games and digital content — as well as functional creations — including design, products and fashion — and creative services such as advertising, branding and marketing, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The creative industries sector was listed on the agenda of the National Economic Workshop that seeks to evaluate the performance of the national economy, identify opportunities to develop economic sectors and enhance their competitiveness, and come up with a roadmap to enhance growth, create opportunities, and improve quality of life and services for Jordanians.

During the national economic workshop, the participants representing the creative industries sectors focused on games, filmmaking and design, highlighting these subsectors’ abilities to achieve the desired impact on the national economy, mainly attracting investment, creating jobs and contributing to economic and export growth.

Participant Nour Khrais said that Jordan’s electronic gaming market made revenues of JD66 million in 2019.

He highlighted that the Jordanian mobile gaming market is the first dynamic market in the MENA region, thanks to the close relations with global accelerators and studios, government incentives, startup initiatives and success stories.

The major challenges facing the sector are the lack of funding for electronic games, inadequate infrastructure, restrictions on talents, as well as lack of clarity in industry legislative regulations.

Mohannad A Bakri, managing director of the Royal Film Commission (RFC), said that the workshop highlighted the challenges and opportunities in the film industry, noting that filming “The Martian” in Wadi Rum has “increased tourism volume to the location by 300 per cent”.

One of the main challenges facing filmmaking and design in the Kingdom is a lack of legalisation that could regulate these sectors, he added.