Shehadeh touts potential of Jordanian tourism sector

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Minister of State for Investment Affairs Muhannad Shehadeh on Tuesday inaugurated the annual MENA sales and marketing conference.

The conference hosted 500 of Marriott International’s leading sales and marketing experts from around the MENA region, according to a statement from the Jordan Investment Commission (JIC).

In the conference’s inaugural speech, Shehadeh stressed the importance of the tourism sector’s role in supporting the Kingdom’s economy and current opportunities available for investors within the sector. He added that Jordan provides several investment advantages for both businesspeople and tourists from around the world.

“Jordan has become a destination for medical, religious, historic and entertainment tourism, as the number of tourists to the Kingdom doubled in 2018,” Shehadeh stated. “Jordan’s location and natural scenery have encouraged international film production companies to create films that have promoted Jordan to the entire world.”

The minister added that the government was working on providing a variety of waivers and facilitations for the tourism sector with the goal of promoting tourism in order to keep up with the needs of both investors and tourists.

The goal of the conference was to promote Jordan as a tourism destination and a location for successful investment within the tourism sector, while taking into consideration the sector’s growth over the past few years and its qualified workforce, according to the JIC.