The data released within a study of the World Tourism Organization in cooperation with the National Academy for Tourism and Aviation Sciences Training in Jordan showed that the Jordanian tourism sector lost about $4.7 billion during 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus, which caused the tourist season to stop completely for more than 9 months.
The Jordanian government began to take incentive steps to restore activity to the sector during the current year, amid a decline in tourism revenues by 81% last year, compared to 2019.
According to the study, dozens of hotels and more than 400 tourist restaurants, and 400 popular restaurants and cafes in Jordan have closed, leaving about 14,000 employees losing their jobs. Note that the number of establishments operating in the tourism sector is about 4,500 with more than 53,000 people working in various disciplines.
The Jordanian Ministry of Tourism expects the sector to recover from the crisis in the middle of this year, to return to normal by 2022, announcing the launch of a tourism risk fund worth $28 million to support the sector and mitigate the damage it suffered.
In this context, the Director General of the Tourism Promotion Authority, Abdul Razzaq Arabiyat, explained that there are many programs and plans that will be implemented during the current year to revitalize the sector, including focusing on charter flight programs and making use of them to improve the tourist season this year.
Earlier this January, the government took several measures to gradually restore life to normal in Jordan, as the comprehensive ban decision was suspended every Friday and many sectors were opened.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
