The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is expanding its tourism offerings to Nigerian tourists to include leisure, education, wellness and other touristic activities. This is in addition to Christian and Islamic pilgrimages, which the country has already started receiving pilgrims from Nigeria.
To achieve this, Jordan is holding a tri-state road-show to sensitize prospective Nigerians tourists on the tourism offerings in the country. The roadshow is being undertaken in partnership with Nigerians Travel Too (NTT), one of Nigeria’s leading tour operators, from 31st October 31, 2021 to November 8, 2021 in Lagos, Kano and Abuja.
A team of representatives of the Jordan Tourism Board, which include; Dr. Justin Abu Anza, unit head, medical and wellness tourism unit; Amer Essam Jmal Twal, mass tourism/mixed faith specialist, and Ahmad Mohammad Al Khattab, Islamic faith consultant, are in Nigerian for the roadshow.
According to Dr. Abdalrazzaq Arabiyat, managing director, Jordan Tourism Board, “Nigeria represents a new tourism target market for Jordan. The aim of our roadshow in Kano, Abuja, and Lagos is to increase awareness about Jordan as a tourism destination and highlight various tourism experiences such as Islamic and Christian faiths, luxury/leisure, medical and educational tourism.”
Jordan is also home to Petra, which is one of the seven world wonders.
While expressing her delight with the new partnership with Jordan Tourism Board, Elizabeth Agboola, CEO and founder, Nigerians Travel Too, explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious effect on the global tourism and travel sector, and that with many popular destinations being closed to tourists or having limited scope for entry for nearly one year, tourism stakeholders are keen to explore opportunities to get more people to travel once again.
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Agboola declared that, “We are excited to be working closely with the Jordan Tourism Board on this project and we have prepared a diverse and creative programme for the roadshow that will facilitate direct engagement between members of the Jordanian and Nigerian tourism fraternity, at various levels”.
The managing director of Jordan Tourism Board also expressed appreciation for the efforts and support of NTT in providing the Jordan delegates with the opportunity to explore the true potential of the Nigerian market to Jordan.
The roadshow will feature workshops, meetings, and presentations in the respective locations. Dr. Arabiyat notes that he and his team are excited about their visit to Nigeria. They are ultimately looking to facilitate the entry of Nigerian tourists into Jordan by simplifying entry requirements and processing visa(s) in a reasonable amount of time. It is envisaged that the new travel facility will commence in December 2021 with weekly direct flights with Royal Jordanian Air from Lagos and Kano respectively to Amman Jordan.
During the Lagos Roadshow, Amer Essam Jmal Twal explained further on the tourism offerings in Jordan: “Let’s start with Christians, as at the time the NCPC came to Jordan, they have been looking at Jordan as a new destination as part of the Holy Land. They needed more information, but once they had been inside the Jordan and noticed the authenticity and spirituality of the sites. Just imagine, the church leaders, led by Rev. Yakubu Pam, standing over the baptism site, at the exact place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. In John 1:38, it spoke about Bethabara. The experience pilgrims had at that time was indescribable. You can just look at their faces and there is the authenticity of the site reflected on them. We had over 15 flights with about 2500 passengers. That was the first part. The next part will be the Islamic tourism.
“We have a lot of shrines; we have a lot of places they could visit. It is Halal tourism. There is the diversity of Islamic shrines and the large number of prophets that were located in Jordan, buried in Jordan and have historical significance to parts of Islam in Jordan.
“What we are trying to say is that our main focus as a tourism board is that we have sub-segments and strategic products that we are working on. Luxury and leisure tourism are our main focus right now.
“We are looking forward to having more Nigerians visit Jordan because Jordan has lots to offer as a nation. We are talking about sun and sand, we are talking about historical cultural experience; we are talking about food experience; we are talking about different activities.
“The beauty of Jordan is that everything changes as you move from the north to the South. So, you can move from greenery and a very modern centre to historic ruins to sun and sand, including Dead Sea. There are different experiences that you can take part in. We are here to give a brief of what Jordan has to offer because I think Nigerians have little information about Jordan. We are trying to give a different perception to what Jordan is, and what Jordan has to offer.”
