Country hasn't seen the violence it's neighbours have
The Jordan Tourist Board North America is continuing to court Canadian tourists while conceding that getting people to visit Jordan is now often challenging as the war between Israel and Hamas has entered its second year and fighting has spread to southern Lebanon.
The violence hasn’t spilled over into Jordan but the tourist board’s Avril Matthews said she and her colleagues are dismayed by it.
“We are gutted,” she told those on hand for Goway’s Oct. 28 Toronto update on its Africa and Middle East program.
Jordanians have strong ties to Palestinians and Gaza has paid a particularly deadly price in the conflict, with the Gazan death toll topping 42,000 people.
Nevertheless, Matthews, who visited Jordan with a TTAND group this summer, told the Goway gathering that Jordan remains quiet, safe and welcoming, even as fighting rages elsewhere.
“Jordan is fully open for business,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Matthews said her office is increasingly emphasizing lesser-known aspects to Jordan, often quickly associated with the archeological site of Petra, the Dead Sea and the desert retreat of Wadi Rum. Matthews used the event to promote the likes of “delicious” Jordanian wine; the country’s numerous Biblical sites; including Mount Nebo, from which Moses saw the Promised Land: nature and adventure tourism, with the latter including the Jordan Trail, which stretches 650 kms from forested northern Jordan to the country’s southern desert landscapes. Hikers can cover segments of it or the entire trail.
The tourism board is also touting “meaningful travel,” with Matthews stating that it leads to money staying in visited communities. Among examples she gave were an enterprise that reworks donated sweaters into bags that are then sold to tourists, and an “underground Amman” tour that showcases street art. Jordan doesn’t have a dress code for women, Matthews added.
Jordan was in turn praised by Goway’s Ian Smyth: “It has so much to offer.”
Jordan wasn’t the only Arab country showcased during the event, with Marie Bennouna of Morocco’s Cynab Voyages reportng that her company has tours that not only deliver people to exotic Marrakesh and Fez but other destinations, such as the desert destination of Ouarzazate and seaside Essaouira, which regularly attracted rock musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, including Jimi Hendrix, who was inspired to write the song Castles Made of Sand there.
Cynab Voyages has been working with Goway for 15 years.
Among welcome developments cited by Bennouna was Air Transat’s decision to begin Montreal-Marrakech service this year.
The evening was also told by Ayhan Ugur of Turkish Airlines’ Toronto office that Istanbul is an ideal base for his carrier, with 80 of its 237 destinations found within 4 hours of that city.
“We are using Istanbul as a geographic advantage very well,” he said.
Turkish Airlines includes Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver among its destinations and it partners with Air Canada.
The airline, which serves points in the Middle East, the Americas, Australia, Africa and Europe, has stopover offers in Istanbul for those travelling beyond the city but wanting to explore it on their trips.
Ugur added that Turkish Airlines’ has a particularly young and growing fleet that now features 442 planes.
“Compared to the competitors, it’s better,” he said of his airline.
