There’s something special about Jordan. My colleague Bruce experienced it when he visited earlier this year; he came away feeling “the world needs more Jordan” and now I couldn’t agree more.
I don’t normally write articles in the first person, but it’s hard not to express from a personal point of view, just how incredible this country and its people are.
First let’s kick the elephant out of the room.
Though Jordan is smack dab in the middle of countries in crisis – it’s boarded by Syria to the North, Iraq to the East, Saudi Arabia to the South and Israel and Palestine to the West - it’s considered the “Switzerland of the Middle East.” There have been some terrorist attacks in past years; in January 2024 a targeted one killed 3 U.S. soldiers at a military base outside Jordan near Syria, and before that, a bombing in 2005 and 2010.
To put things into perspective, the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) which lists terrorist threats for countries based on four indicators: incidents, fatalities, injuries, and hostages, ranks the US at 30, popular tourist hotspots like Greece at 34, the UK at 41, New Zealand at 50 and our own country at 52. Jordan? Well, they’re a lot further down the list, coming in at 75.
Yes, that means many of the places we’re already travelling to and living in without fear have a higher risk of terrorist attacks than Jordan does.
One can argue that fear can be easily manifested by watching the news. With a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and a true love and fascination with news media overall, I consume news differently than the average person. In a related discussion with my dinner table mates at the opening night party at TTAND, we discussed the importance of us all to rely not on one source of news, but many. I used the example that here we were, three trade media outlets covering the same conference in Jordan, yet all our stories would have different perspectives on the same event.
This is especially important when it comes to Jordan, because if agents and clients allow themselves to be dissuaded from visiting, then everyone is truly missing out what could be one of the most memorable, almost magical, experiences of your life.
“We unfortunately are always victims of a misperception of crisis,” Malia Asfour, Managing Director, Jordan Tourism Board, North America, told TravelPulse Canada over lunch in Wadi Rum.
“But a crisis could be an earthquake in Turkey. It could be environmental, climate change, it’s heat waves. It's the heatwave in Europe. There are all kinds of reasons for crisis. And what we do when there is a crisis is we always look at the media to help report the truth. Our relationship with you, the travel trade media is very important, it’s about how can our voice be higher, it's about telling the truth.”
45,000 Canadians visited Jordan in 2023, a number the Jordan Tourist Board is hoping to grow. Canadian spend is higher than visitors from other countries, about $60 million per year, largely due to being a longer-haul market. Simply put, Canadians are visiting for longer and spending more than most other visiting countries.
“There was a resiliency with Canada that we didn’t see in other countries with the pandemic,” Asfour continued. “We of course saw a decline in travel from Canada to Jordan, but it was a slower decline than other countries; Canadians kept holding on. We know travel ebbs and flows differently, but Canada overall was the most resilient and I think that’s very important and speaks to Canadians’ love of Jordan.”
GPS Hilary Arsenault, G Adventures' Founder Bruce Poon Tip with David Green, VP Sales and Customer Operations & Managing Director Canada (Photo Credit: Marsha Mowers)
David Green, VP Sales and Customer Operations & Managing Director Canada, G Adventures (who to say was integral in making TTAND’s conference happen could be the understatement of the year), held a session on travel trends where he predicted that Jordan would become tops on the year’s must-see destination list.
“Since the conflict in Gaza, we’ve seen Jordan become impacted with fewer bookings and higher cancellation rates, all because of its proximity to the conflict," Green told TravelPulse Canada.
"In reality though, all those at the TTAND conference have seen firsthand what a friendly and peaceful country Jordan is. It’s known as the Switzerland of the Middle East, it’s like being the quiet street in a loud neighbourhood.
The good news is that bookings are coming back already. We are seeing more people book late, many bookings within a month of travel as people take advantage of the deals to Jordan.
My number one prediction though for 2025, is that Jordan will be back! Based on the great trade press, the amount of social media activity from the 300+ people in attendance at the TTAND conference, I’m confident that there will be many Canadians visiting Jordan shortly."
Nearly 30% of the country’s workforce is employed in tourism, both directly and indirectly. Last year tourism represented 14% of the GDP. The Jordan Tourism Board’s goal was between 10 and 12%. With tourism being such a big part of the economy of Jordan, the pandemic and nearby crises are having a detrimental effect and that’s why a tourism rebound will help the country.
“It's the social enterprises that we have cultivated these relationships with, we want them to survive. We want the women to be able to leave their babies and go to work and have this co-op be able to run on tourism dollars.
“It’s difficult because you open the social enterprises and you bring in tourism dollars to help run daycares and such and then the tourists don't come,” explains Asfour.
The social enterprise component was something echoed by TTAND’s keynote speaker G Adventures’ founder Bruce Poon Tip during the conference’s closing session.
“The issue is we have a finite number of beautiful places, iconic destinations, and we have a growing number of people that want to see them, but that has all kinds of issues,” he told attendees.
“We saw it in Venice with overcrowding for example. People are buying holidays, but the money doesn’t stay in the economy, that’s the issue we have, and we are missing a huge opportunity to be transformational in this industry.”
G Adventures is helping to be part of the solution via their Planeterra projects in the country. Both Asfour and her colleague Omar Banihani, Marketing Director say they’re trying to drive home the message to agents to encourage their clients to look towards using their vacation not only as a time off for them, but to help the destination they’re visiting.
Avril Matthews, Jordan Tourism Board Canada and Omar Banihani, Malia Asfour, Jordan Tourism Board North America (Photo Credit: Marsha Mowers)
“We are laser focused on what we want for the next five and 10 years,” Banihani tells us before TTAND’s closing dinner on the beach.
“The biggest part of it all is the way travel is being consumed in Jordan, it’s not just tourism numbers, but it's the quality of the tourists. Jordan is a boutique destination, and it will always remain that way.
Our focus is on the quality of the future travel to Jordan, the sentiment of Jordan, but we’re also trying to positively impact our supply chain and our locals because that’s a big part of our tourism goal overall.
We are really committed to bringing the travellers to the local communities and spreading the tourism dollar across the entire country.
Travel advisors are not going to forget what they see here, once you're here, you're completely sold. The biggest complaint we have from travellers, the one that I keep hearing is “I wish I had more time.”
We couldn’t agree more.
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