“Any idea of who we are”? I would ask. “Not really”. The answer I was getting most of the time, but with a look of I-want-to-know-more.

We are the “Petra National Trust”, I said, “we have existed for 18 years and we are there to preserve and protect Petra.”

“Tell us the story of Petra”? was the question that immediately followed, addressed to me.

That was during the Jordan’s Travel Mart event that took place at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center at the Dead Sea on feb 10, bringing together more than 100 tour operators-buyers of tourism products and services and travel journalists from North and Latin America. The three day event, organized by the Jordan Tourism Board North America (JTBNA), aims to connect Jordan’s outbound and inbound tour operators.

The carefully qualified Jordan Travel Mart buyers met representatives of more than 50 Jordan hotels, receptive operators, and other suppliers of travel services in Jordan. Petra National Trust was invited by the Jordan Tourism Board to participate in the event as an non-government organization (NGO) among others like the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), the Jordan River Foundation, Noor al- Hussein Foundation, RACE, and the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association.

The event included a pre-scheduled appointment format that arranged specific meetings between American “buyers” and Jordanian “suppliers”. Each meeting lasted for 20 minutes. A good number of the tour operators PNT met had never sent any groups to Jordan and it was even their first time to the region. The political instability in the Middle East was cited as the main reason among others.

The Experience of Petra National Trust

Petra National Trust (PNT) had a schedule of 21 appointments with North and Latin American buyers. It wasn’t surprising to see the significant number of people flooding to PNT’s booth with no appointments scheduled. Ultimately, Petra is the site that draws the largest number of national and international tourists in Jordan every year.

They were all keen to know about Petra. The awesome, thrilling, breathtaking expressions that were drawn on their faces upon mentioning the Rose Red city would soon turn into expressions of admiration of the organization that is there to preserve this heritage site.

Some of the tour operator who already visited Petra have expressed with anger some concerns regarding the services in Petra. The absence of enough bathrooms was a common issue brought up by many. Another was the treatment of animals. Most of them also voiced their irritation at the unlicensed vendors and their harassment to the tourists.

Commitment

Ever since I started working in the Petra National Trust I came to realize that it is not easy to get people interested in supporting an organization that preserves a heritage site. You see people supporting projects that would build a house for someone, or would help a kid dying from cancer. But how often do you find people willing to put their money to preserve a heritage site?

At the Jordan Travel Mart, and to my great astonishment, I did meet people who showed dedication to our cause upon hearing our mission statement. One US tour operator for example, offered to donate to PNT 5 % of the total cost of each tour sent to Petra.

More commitment was shown by American journalists who were wandering around conducting interviews and taking pictures, waiting impatiently to be back home and write about their experience in Jordan which they described as “unique”. They were all eager to know about PNT, expressing their happiness to know that there is such an organization that is there to preserve Petra. They happily exchanged cards with me with a promise and a commitment to publish press releases and stories about PNT. They went on to explain how there is an international attention to Petra and everybody is interested to know more about it.

Issues to Consider

Special Tours

Some tour operators expressed their interest in special tours and wondered if PNT is considering adding this type of services to their agenda. One of the tour operators for example conducts Learning Vacations especially to Harvard students, and inquired if PNT will be conducting special tours for students in the future.

Voluntourism

There was an interest in the concept of voluntourism, which is gaining popularity in the US. Voluntourism gives the opportunity to see and experience new places and the chance to give back to the places and people you interact with during your travels. The Jordan Tourism Board North America is currently working with a number of organizations in Jordan to develop volunteer opportunities for visitors to Jordan aiming at engaging them in meaningful ways with the Jordanian people. This question was also addressed to PNT, questioning the additional of such programs for volunteers in Petra in the future.

Faith-based Travel

Faith-based travel is flourishing in the US and the local tour operators were encouraged to include that in their itineraries since this is said will attract more tourists. However, this applies more to other touristic places than Petra, like Mount Nebo, Dead Sea, Madaba, etc.

New Itineraries

One thing the Jordan Tourism Board North America stressed is how tour operators should create more attractive itineraries that would make Jordan look more tempting to the American tour operators and worth crossing miles for.The old itineraries, on the other hand, were described as traditional and not very appealing. Having bread with a local family was given as a simple activity of how this might add to the experience of any tourist.

Personal Experience

I came to appreciate PNT more and the role it has been doing all over the years. It takes a believer to appreciate the existence of such an organization which unfortunately has been and is still perceived by many as an obstacle to urban development in Petra. Petra’s recent designation amongst the New Seven Wonders has put more pressures on PNT to stand firm against all the activities that are being introduced to haphazardly increase tourism in Petra, failing to realize that such activities seriously threaten and harm this fragile site. “We visit Petra just to look at the monuments, nothing else would attract us,” as one tour operator put it, stressing the fact that Jordanians should work together to preserve the site from the impact of human contact.

I also came to appreciate Petra more. Like many Jordanians, I know that Petra is awesome and unique, but my interactions with the people at the event made me appreciate it even more. It really saddens me to see foreigners coming together with a belief that Jordanians are not taking care of Petra as they should. It is neglected in their eyes. It is neglected by its own people.

One Canadian travel editor and publisher I met over dinner explained to me that he has been traveling all around and visiting places. However, “Petra”, he said “is one of the few places that you cannot find a replacement for anywhere in the world. It’s definitely a place that is worth crossing miles and oceans for.” His statement was to stress the fact that the government has to invest more in Petra and work hard to make it a thrilling experience for any tourist from all aspects.

I see this event as a wake up call for all tour operators and even Jordanians. The three-day event helped open my eyes to an even more beautiful Jordan. Does it usually take a foreign eye to admire the beauty of one’s own country where one is born and brought up? I wonder.

Jordan’s tourism sector is a $2.3 billion industry and makes around 14.5 percent of the country’s GDP, but is set to increase higher as more plush hotels and better infrastructure is put in place. This is at least the vision as outlined by the country’s five-year National Tourism Strategy which is set to end in 2010.

It is with this in mind the Jordan Travel Mart (JTM) was held at the Dead Sea’s high-tech King Hussein Ben Talal Convention Center, 10-12 February, that has proved a unique venue of bringing Jordanian tourism professionals and travel operators from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina for the event.

According to organizers, the Jordan Tourism Board, North America, the three-day venue is an important event to bolster the Kingdom’s tourism industry by getting travel practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic to meet at the Dead Sea, to discuss and exchange point of views about the best ways of bringing tourists from the Americas to enjoy the Kingdom’s top tourism potentials that include historical, cultural, spiritual, adventure and eco-tourism as well as MICE [Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events] and desert delights and of sleeping in tents.

It was somewhat of an innovation for the local tourist industry as around 250 delegates—owners, managers, sales representatives, event producers, hoteliers, transport companies, travel associations—from both Jordan and the Americas met in separate 25-minute pre-scheduled appointments with colleagues which for they most part they never met in their lives and hammered out travel and tourism packages which American, Brazilian, Canadian and Mexican tourism specialists promised to take home and sell to their clients, and which they were sure would increase the travel traffic flow between Jordan and across the Atlantic.

The JTM is the brainchild of the Jordan Tourism Board in Amman, Jordan Tourism Board, North America and executed by the William H. Coleman, a Florida-based management consultancy, displaying a new force of cooperation through private-public sector management aimed at global growth and may even be termed as just one of the new theories of economic development along the community development and “green tourism” Jordan is also stressing.

These concepts came up in the Dead Sea travel mart that had a necessarily strict formal style, and conducted in a business-to-business format which everyone in the booth-designed floor hailed as very productive and animated between American “buyers” and Jordanian “sellers” were avid information was exchanged from both sides.

Tourism sellers like Petra Tours as well as others interesting in boosting inbound tourism to the Kingdom interacted with diligence and excitement with many of the American buyers, saying this is were business is being made and deals struck.

“This is the kind of meets that we require in Jordan to cement our businesses and build up traffic from the Americas to Jordan, says Awni Kawar, General Manager of Petra Tours and Chairman of the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association.

However, the approach may have been a little different, as one seller said the buyers wanted details like costs of packages, whereas we wanted to talk about our products, but arrangements of follow-up have been made and as expected in such travel marts, and were different cultures would inevitably get in the way, complaints were sited.

One buyer from Canada, said while he had enjoyed the sightseeing tremendously, as he was taken on a pre-JTM tour of Jordan’s south, he said, it was “somewhat hectic” and a “more leisurely pace was required”. The same goes he said for the pre-scheduled appointments which he said made you feel like as tripping from one booth to another and needing to gulp your breath!

However, one of the organizers said the point about the strict business schedule was to allow buyers to see as much of the suppliers as possible to generate the required tourism business between Jordan and the countries across the Atlantic which is why everybody is here for. From an onlooker point of view, it gave a sobering scene to the floor, with a ticking clock scenario.

Overall and judging from the level of interaction the organizers were very pleased and said both “sellers” and “buyers” were actually getting in tune with the long-list of business appointments they had in front of them. Also, organizers hoped this first travel mart in Jordan would become a yearly event that would allow American buyers to explore the Jordanian market fully, which a number of whom hadn’t realized of its huge potential.

Words like “incredible”, and “warm” were frequently heard by attendees like Mexican Gray Line General Director Jorge Mejia while people like Kenneth Luzietti of The Travel Society in Denver said he came here amongst other things to explore the Religious/Faith based market which there is a growing demand for in the United States and which this country has.

Kevin Wright, a religious travel expert came especially from the United States for the JTM to highlight the importance of religious travel in the world as an $18 billion global industry with $10 billion of that in America alone, and that Jordanian operators must recognize this fact understanding that many religious sites, including the Baptism Site, are in the Kingdom.

The point was further stressed as well religious tourists were not only coming to faith-based sites but wanted and interested in adventure, historical, ecotourism and other sightseeing holidays which Jordan in abundance.

While some complaints were made about what was called as service issues and emphasized there should be more training of the local staff, who needed to be in ship-shaped condition to meet international tourists, especially those from the American markets, many of the incoming agents said Jordan is a great marketable product.

However, some doubted whether Jordan could be sold as a “stand alone” destination and that it would be better to offer it to their clients as part of a regional package with Egypt and Israel. They said since tourists were coming all the way from across the Atlantic, they felt sure they would like regional packages and greater variety.

Malia Asfour, director of the Tourism Board North America, felt sure the doubters will change their minds simply because of the diverse value of the tourism product in Jordan and she hoped will change their mind as they realize Jordan offers great wonders and experience whether in terms of genuine hospitality, exploring ancient cities and castle ruins, going on incredible eco-adventure activities, and soaking in mineral hot springs.

In between the B2B meetings and not to disturb the sellers and buyers business schedule, a full course of lectures, seminars, speeches, presentations and panel discussions were given by industry experts on the importance of tourism as a business and development agent. These included a presentation by a Jordanian tour guide about his impressions of the touristic value of the country, on adventure and eco-tourism, as well as a talk on the investments developments in Aqaba, on Royal Jordanian and cruise liner destinations as important holiday packages as given by Terry Dale, chief executive officer of Cruise Lines International Association.

Jordanians wanted to make sure that their hosts received the message that Jordan was open for global tourism. To make sure time is not spared some of these talks were given at breakfast and luncheons and sometimes evening dinners and not forgetting the mingling during after-dinner parties.

The first Jordan Travel Mart will certainly be remembered for its introduction to Jordan as a vibrant destination, many of whom already know about but many others will continue to remember long after they’ve gone home, to the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

Thus the JTM could be seen as an effective marketing exercise in which businessmen from across the international travel and tourism industry mingled with one another to set new growth rates for development and cooperation, and raise the standards of the industry.

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Marwan Asmar is a media consultant/writer in Petra Tours. Be sure to visit his website at PetraTours.com.

Below are some additional links on the topic:

• AME Info – Jordan Travel Mart sets new business trends in tourism
• Jordan Travel Mart draws North and Latin American buyers – Travel Daily News
• Amman Press – Jordan Travel Mart promotes Kingdom’s attractions to Americas
• Jordan Travel Mart Draws Over 100 North and Latin American Buyers – PRWeb
• Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association – JITOA attends the first annual JTB Jordan Travelmart