During a meeting with officials and representatives of the tourism sector on Monday, His Majesty King Abdullah called for teamwork and youth training in order to provide quality tourism services and reduce unemployment rates. 

 

His Majesty also underlined the need to attract tourism investments and support youth-led projects in the sector.

 

The tourism sector is booming in Jordan and is witnessing increased growth in terms of revenues and the number of visitors, rendering great potential for creating much-needed jobs to combat unemployment, which, according to the latest official figures, reached 19.2 per cent at the middle of last year.

 

The rise in the number of tourist arrivals offers an opportunity to prepare well-trained cadres to take on the jobs created by the rising demand in the sector. This increase also poses the challenge of improving services to remain competitive.

 

King Abdullah urged a focus on tourism throughout Jordan, stressing that the southern region will see increased activities to enhance tourism services in the coming months, followed by the northern region. This strategy is of great importance, as unemployment tends to be higher in other governorates than in Amman.

 

Enhancing public-private partnerships to realise the desired objectives in the tourism field and provide Jordanians with necessary skills and training are key in this regard, and improving the skills of young Jordanians in the thriving hospitality sector is one of the ways to address the high unemployment amongst university-degree holders, which stood at 25.9 per cent at the end of the first half of 2019.

 

Tourism is a very dynamic and diverse sector in Jordan, with different branches. This requires joint efforts on the part of all concerned entities to overcome challenges and obstacles on the road ahead.

 

Furthermore, it is imperative to move forward steadily; while strengthening measurable competence-based standards is also a necessary step to render further success in the sector, which is a main contributor to the country's gross domestic product.