AMMAN - Tourism authorities have prepared a five-year plan for Aqaba to help meet the rising demand for services and enable the port city to better compete in the global travel market.
The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), along with the USAID-Jordan Tourism Development Project (JTDP) and the Aqaba Development Corporation, have developed the 2010-2015 Tourism Marketing Strategy for the Red Sea port city which they say aims to build on recent successes.
"Our objective is to qualify Aqaba as a premier holiday destination with a strong connection to Wadi Rum and Petra," Bilal Bashir, ASEZA deputy chief commissioner and commissioner for investment, told The Jordan Times in a recent phone interview.
Authorities will focus on promoting the three sites, the so-called golden triangle of tourism, to maximise the amount of activities in the area in order to extend visitor stays in Aqaba by 45 per cent to two days.
Under the five-year strategy, authorities aim to double the number of port calls; last year 103 cruise ships docked at the port, bringing some 40,000 tourists to Aqaba.
By 2015, the plan aims to double the number of visitors to the Red Sea port city, which amounted to 450,000 in 2008, including194,000 foreigners.
The strategy, which was presented by the JTDP in a ceremony last week, also calls for increasing tourist expenditure in Aqaba by 5 per cent annually over the next five years.
Bashir noted that several four-star hotels currently under construction are expected to raise the total number of rooms to around 8,000 in five years time, with plans in place to develop quality public beaches for the expected increase in tourists.
The ASEZA official noted that as demand during high seasons, such as Eid Al Fitr, leads to rising prices, the strategy aims to increase the supply of 3- and 4-star hotel rooms while avoiding low occupancy rates in the off-season, to encourage year-round local tourism.
Another main point of the strategy focuses on developing King Hussein Airport (KHA) as a "second gateway to the Kingdom" and a transit point for regional and international flights, according to the JTDP.
Under a framework developed by the JTDP for marketing and planning at the airport, authorities will look to increase charter flights, attract low-cost carriers, and promote KHA as a connecting airport, with long-term plans to turn it into a regional hub.
According to ASEZA, 1,100 charter flights landed in Aqaba last year from the UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Poland and Russia.
"King Hussein Airport is important in its capacity as an entranceway into Jordan," Bashir said, noting that next year Aqaba will take over as the Arab Tourism Capital from Alexandria.
"This proves that all the hard work to develop Aqaba as a tourist destination is bearing fruit," he said.
© Jordan Times 2009
