AJLOUN - Entrepreneurs in Ajloun will have the opportunity to establish their own businesses under a grant programme launched on Monday.
The USAID Jordan Tourism Development Project (JTDP) and the Ministry of Tourism agreed to provide grants for initiatives to develop tourist services along the Ajloun Heritage Trail.
The grant programme will support small- and medium-sized businesses to ensure the benefits of tourism development trickle down to the local communities along the 25-kilometre trail, which runs through the towns of Rasoun, Orjan and Baoun.
"Local communities are key to building a tourism product, therefore we are supporting the communities near the tourism trail to contribute to its success and at the same time benefit from tourism by creating job opportunities and improving living standards in the area," Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Maha Khatib said on the sidelines of a signing ceremony yesterday.
Under the agreement, the USAID-JTDP will provide technical assistance as well as grant funding, while the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) and the Arab Consultant Bureau will award the grants and oversee the implementation of the projects.
Several local cooperatives operate in the area, many of them producing crafts and food to support income-generating projects. The grants aim to foster local initiatives and enhance existing ones, according to the USAID-JTDP.
RSCN Director General Yahya Khalid underlined the role of the Ajloun Nature Reserve in tourism development, which aims to attract eco-conscious tourists and nature enthusiasts.
"The new trails in Ajloun are a continuation of a social, economic and eco-tourism development programme within the Ajloun Nature Reserve, which has proven successful throughout its implementation over the past five years," he said, stressing that the initiative will be implemented in cooperation with the private sector "from day one".
Potential projects will be evaluated on their compliance with the tourism strategy for the trail, the number of jobs that will be created and their sustainability.
Initiatives could be as simple as preparing traditional Jordanian country breakfasts for visitors or as elaborate as the construction and operation of boutique hotels and cafés, according to USAID-JTDP. Officials expect the 20 selected projects to create over 50 job opportunities for local residents.
"This programme will encourage tourism activities and involve the local community in developing tourism in the area, which will ultimately benefit the communities directly, and the country at large," USAID-JTDP Chief of Party Ibrahim Osta said, according to a JTDP press release.
In addition to the RSCN-administered Ajloun reserve, the 25-kilometre trail displays Umayyad agricultural technology, Byzantine wine presses, a Bronze Age necropolis, prehistoric dolmens, millennial olive orchards and Ottoman-era buildings.
Stops include Baoun, home of the 15th century Sufi poet Aisha Al Baouniya; Ajloun Castle, the stronghold of Salah Al Din (Saladin); and Tel Mar Elias, which some believe to be the birthplace of Elijah/Elias, who is revered in the three Abrahamic faiths.
By Taylor Luck
© Jordan Times 2010
