AMMAN, 23 July 2004 — Jordanian Tourism Minister Alia Boran yesterday expected the country’s income from the tourism industry to jump to about $1 billion this year, thanks to a successful promotion plan which has been carried out by the ministry over the past months.
“With two million tourists expected in Jordan this year, we predict the income from tourism to reach $1 billion in 2004,” she said.
“By the year 2010, we expect 12 million tourists to arrive in Jordan with an expected income of $5.6 billion and the creation of 90,000 jobs,” she added.
Boran reported a 35 percent increase in the number of tourists visiting Jordan in the first five months of the year, compared with the same period of 2003.
The number of Western tourists visiting Jordan dropped drastically over the past two years following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the US-led war on Iraq in 2003.
However, an increase in Arab visitors helped to reduce the negative impact on the tourism industry resulting from the offshoots of the war on terrorism and the military operations in neighboring Iraq.
Boran expected the number of European visitors to pick up again and reach the pre-2002 level by September this year.