My visit to Jordan came at a Dead Sea moment in my 60 years of life. The lowest point in my personal planet.
The pandemic took my job as the tourism industry came to a screeching halt and the advertising that supported my employment at a travel publication disappeared. I was without work in my field for two years. Of course I missed the income – we sold a car, appreciated some support from the Canadian government and lived a more frugal life – but I was not in danger of losing my home or missing a meal.
What cut me to the bone was the social isolation. I loved the people in my COVID “bubble,” but my drug of choice is interaction with my fellow humans. I’m indiscriminate in my attentions – race, religion, gender or economic status is immaterial. But I do require one thing – adherence to the ‘golden rule’ shared by the three major monotheistic religions – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The global health crisis, social media manipulation and the actions of cynical politicians revealed, stoked and magnified the divisions between people, rather than celebrating our similarities. My grown sons lost some of their faith in humanity and their own futures. My wife, who works as a clinical psychotherapist, suffered by osmosis from the despair, loneliness and future-fears of her clients.
I have been back at work for more than two years now, and I’m very grateful. I have flown to far off places, travelled on massive cruise ships and stayed at resorts where everything you could possibly want is included. But still I felt hollow and unsettled. The world seemed like a meaner, crueler place, where greed and power trumped cooperation and kindness.
Malia Asfour (left), managing director of the Jordan Tourism Board North America, with Princess Alia bint Hussein, eldest child of King Hussein. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
Through a fortuitous recommendation, I was invited to travel to Jordan for an ‘Up Close & Personal” tour hosted by the Jordan Tourism Board North America. On a pre-trip Zoom meeting I met our delightful host, Malia Asfour, JTBNA managing director, our tour guide Majdi Kohof, and many of the members of the 20-person-strong group.
During the call, Majdi expressed his experienced opinion that 90% of people in the world have good intentions, while 10% do not. My first thought: “I’m going to love this guy.” He reminded me so much of Ron Nitzan, a private tour guide who took me and a group through Israel on behalf of the Israel Ministry of Tourism in January 2023. He is the epitome of what Jewish people call a “mensch” – a person of integrity and honour.
The trip has not only exceeded my expectations, it blew them right out of the water. Here in Jordan, hospitality is not a tourism slogan, it is a fundamental concept of society. If you are eating and someone else is not, you invite them to share, no questions asked, no return expected.
Jordanian tour guide Majdi Kohof. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
My fellow travellers are exceptional too. They’re not all journalists. In fact, just three of the 20 write for a living. The rest are Jordan Tourism Board representatives and people from the industry who operate through the lens that tourism can and should be a force for good, something that uplifts rather than exploits.
(Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
They include people like Greg Takehara, CEO of Tourism Cares, a 20-year-old organization that has mobilized leading travel associations and companies to move travel in a positive direction. And Shannon Stowell, CEO of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, a group working to fund grass-roots projects focused on preserving place and supporting the local people who work in adventure travel destinations. Good people doing great things.
I don’t need to be among the 1% of wealthy world citizens who absorb so much of the oxygen in the travel industry and beyond. But I’m proud to continue to strive for a place among Majdi’s 90%.
A Jordanian welcome. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
There are problems within Jordan – of course there are. As Majdi puts it: “We are not all angels.” But I’m absolutely convinced that if everyone approached strangers with the kind of hospitality I’ve seen in this country, with open arms and hearts, the world would be a better place. More of our budgets could be dedicated to education, health care and social cohesion rather than guns, bombs and prisons.
I’m thrilled to see that my Israeli guide from last year is sending ‘hearts’ and positive comments to my Facebook posts and articles from this trip. It gives me hope. It also gives me hope that more than 200 Canadian travel advisors from The Travel Agent Next Door are coming to Jordan in a couple of months, most for a first-time visit. They will have the privilege of experiencing unparalleled hospitality and I promise they will feel as safe as they do at home, if not more so. They will tell people, who will tell people…
A mosaic artist in Jordan. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
Ninety per cent is a big number. How can we be in the situation we are in with such a majority? Apathy must be shaken off, ignorance must be addressed, kindness must be emphasized. Only then, inshallah, will the wonderful potential of humanity be revealed and realized.
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