A good place to be in

According to the Central Bank of Jordan, the total income from tourism and Jordanians’ remittances increased by 8.5 per cent this January over the same month last year, with remittances making up 4.2 per cent and revenues from tourism 12.2 per cent of the increase. 

While the figures may appear modest, their significance is not, for what this means is that expatriates and tourists have confidence in the country’s stability and security, which counts a lot in a region plagued by tensions and conflict.

So, if anything, the figures could be a gauge of the trust Jordanians and foreign visitors put in the Kingdom.

The Middle East, with its lands imbibed in history and with its many religious sites, has always been a great lure for tourists, but the regional turmoil, its wars and violence, have greatly diminished its attraction.

Yet Jordan, an open-air tourist site where holy and historical places are abundant and where the medical profession offers the highest quality care, which qualifies it as a medical tourism destination, can still offer all of this in safety and with a welcoming smile.

Investors can still safely consider projects in the Kingdom, which enjoys qualified labour force at all levels.

Yet for that to happen, more efforts need to be continuously exerted to drive the message in: Jordan may well be in the Middle East, but it is a country at peace, with a climate to envy and where business carries on undisturbed.

Remittances are important and needed, but there might come a time the Arab Gulf countries where most expatriates work will have prepared their own populations and will hardly need foreigners to operate their economies. 

What happens then?

The country has to think of ways to create a strong economy, with viable industries that can absorb the local workforce and, very important, rehabilitate and modernise agriculture in the Jordan Valley, which could be a rich food basket for the country and beyond.

Those in charge have to work harder to promote Jordan abroad as an ideal tourist destination — having been generously endowed with historical sites and in view of its services and geographic proximity to many a tourist market, but mainly Europe, whose people love to travel — and, equally important, encourage local tourism, which is often driven off by the exorbitant prices.

Jordan is a safe, beautiful country. This is the message. It is the officials’ job to send it, and they should work hard to be up to it.