Abdul Razzaq Arabiyat, Director General of the Tourism Promotion Authority, said that the national economic workshop “Moving towards the future: Unlocking the possibilities to modernize the economy” came under royal directives.

Arabiyat indicated that King Abdullah II was keen to have economists present a vision or vision for Jordan for the year 2033, while stressing the need for the results of the workshop to be accelerated and reflected on the Jordanian citizen.

He drew attention to directives from Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, the Crown Prince, that we always listen to strategies and ideas, but the important thing is implementation.

Speaking to Jordan TV on Sunday, Arabiyat indicated that the workshop constitutes an opportunity that may be the last for experts to develop an executive program, noting that “there are always strategies that are placed on papers without follow-up on their implementation, or they may not see the light because they intersect with other sectors.”

He stressed the great seriousness of the experts present in the workshop to set priorities and an executive program to implement them during a specific time, indicating that the workshop seeks to have specific stakeholders to implement and hold accountable the implementation of priorities and why they were not implemented.

He said that the workshop, with its experts, clarified the problems and their solutions that might be taken by a decision or the issuance of legislation that does not amount to amending laws.

He noted the sectoral division in the workshop, and that the tourism sector is an important part of it, believing that there is a government orientation for the tourism sector to be one of the government’s priorities in the executive program for the coming years, and “10 tourism priorities were set to be discussed in the workshop.”

He stressed that the experts present in the workshop gave their opinions regarding the ideas and priorities that were identified, stressing that tourism is a major driver of the economy, which has proven over the past years, especially in 2019, when, for the first time, tourism income reached $5.3 billion, which is higher than remittances from expatriates, as conclusive evidence that The tourism sector and its revenues constitute a large part of the revenues and hard currency in the Central Bank.

The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Nayef Hamidi Al-Fayez, presented in the second session of the national strategy workshop for tourism, which was developed and approved by the private sector, according to Arabiyat, who considered it the basis and starting point for the workshop and it was agreed upon.

Regarding investment obstacles, he said that the governorates do not have large-scale tourism investments, and the cost of converting the land from agricultural to tourism must be determined, noting the need for the Ministry of Local Administration to have a role in resolving the complications for investors in the provincial tourism sector, by not selling the land after purchasing it and giving the investor a period of time Two years to set up the project.

He referred to proposals to remove complications at the time of conducting government institutions’ transactions, by paying additional fees to obtain approvals within 48 hours, and the difference in fees to be distributed to employees as incentives.

On the role of the private sector, he said that the product must be fully-fledged for marketing and for tourists to enjoy the tourism experience by holding events and festivals in tourist sites to prolong the stay of tourists by the private sector.

He pointed to the high taxes on airports and the cost of access to Jordan, stressing that 70% of the tourism equation lies in the ease of access to Jordan.

He stressed that access to Jordan is very difficult, “and this is a challenge that must be removed,” and that the airport movement is very little due to taxes.

And he indicated that Queen Alia Airport is considered one of the most expensive airports in the world, noting a tax cost per passenger of $81, while the next country pays a tax cost of 30-40 dollars.

He revealed that a committee formed with the management of Queen Alia International Airport will soon finish its work by issuing recommendations to the Council of Ministers to cancel or reduce taxes on airports.

“In October of this year, we will have 8 destinations from Wizz Air to Amman and the same to Aqaba, 9 destinations from EasyJet to Aqaba and 22 destinations from Ryanair to Aqaba, in addition to charter flights,” according to Arabiyat, who confirmed the authority’s study of tourist preferences, in addition to To increase promotional campaigns.