Jordan to maintain archaeological sites with entry fees

The Jordanian Cabinet has approved a decision to allocate 20 per cent of entry fees to the Kingdom’s archaeologicalsites for maintenance and development, Minister of Tourism Nayef Al Fayez announced.

The archaeological sites need regular maintenance, Fayez said, adding that previously there were no financial allocations for the required work.

Last year, revenues generated from entry fees exceeded JD11 million, according to the ministry’s figures.

Fayez said the Cabinet decision would help not only maintain the sites, but also improve services for visitors, which is part of the country’s tourism strategy.

In addition, the 2011-2015 tourism strategy aims at increasing tourism receipts to JD4.2 billion in 2015.

Components of the five-year strategy include marketing and promotion, product development, labour marketdevelopment and improving the tourism environment.

In the product development area, the strategy seeks to increase air travel capacity into Jordan by 20 per cent, complete 20 new demand-driven tourism infrastructure projects, and approve and classify 100 per cent of hotels and 80 per cent of restaurants under a national classification scheme.

According to latest official figures, the Kingdom’s tourism revenues rose by 15.3 per cent in the first 11 months of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011.

Figures showed that revenues rose to JD2.2 billion from JD1.9 billion in the January-November period of 2011.
Source: Jordan Times