Tourism minister attends emergency ministerial session to discuss coronavirus impact on sector

AMMAN — Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Majd Shweikeh on Wednesday participated in an emergency session held by the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism (AMCT) to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impacts on all economic sectors, especially the tourism and travel sector, in the Arab world.

During the session, which was held via videoconference, Shweikeh announced Jordan's approval of the final statement of the AMCT emergency session, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The minister reviewed the challenges faced by the tourism sector in Jordan, as well as the measures taken by the government to mitigate the damage on the tourism sector.

According to Shweikeh, one challenge facing the sector in the Kingdom is developing a plan for recovery.

Another challenge is protecting the sector’s workers and maintaining approximately 55,000 employees in the industry, she said, adding that efforts in this area aim to ensure visitors’ return after the pandemic has ended.

On ways to gradually revive the sector, she said that the focus was initially on domestic tourism and that work is currently being done to attract international tourism according to epidemiological developments and to forge health protocols and safe procedures to ensure that the virus does not spread.

The COVID-19 crisis has had a strong global impact, and for Jordan’s tourism sector, which contributes 13 per cent of Jordan's GDP, the blow has been especially severe, prompting the government to take strict measures to curb the virus, Shweikeh said.