50,000 students more aware of the benefits of tourism
Amman – The National Tourism Awareness Campaign, which seeks to enhance the perception of tourism among Jordanians, has already reached around 50,000 students since the second phase began six weeks ago. Through a series of interactive awareness sessions held at schools around the Kingdom, high school students were receptive to key messages about the benefits of tourism to Jordan and the opportunities that tourism can offer them.
“Jordan’s tourism industry cannot develop without the support of all Jordanians and particularly the youth, who now recognize the value of tourism and are more interested in entering this industry,” said H.E. Ms. Maha Al Khatib, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities. “Greater awareness of tourism will also reach visitors directly through better understanding and welcoming behavior from Jordanians.”
“The key to creating awareness of tourism is continuity and the National Tourism Awareness Campaign has been designed to provide this in order to educate Jordanians about the benefits of tourism while encouraging positive behavior towards tourists,” said Mr. Ibrahim Osta, Chief of Party of the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II. “We are delighted at the success of the first tourism awareness effort, which is encouraging in moving ahead with the rest of the campaign,”
The tourism awareness campaign targeting Jordanian students began with a series of awareness training sessions for teachers. These training workshops, implemented in nine cities around the Kingdom, equipped 300 teachers with the knowledge and tools to deliver awareness sessions to their students. Each of the teachers received a tourism awareness training kit which includes a detailed teacher training manual to help them plan and deliver lessons, along with a DVD of a documentary on tourism attractions in Jordan to screen for the students. The pack also includes forms to report on the schools where the sessions were implemented and the number of students reached in each session. The focus was on 10th and 11th grade students as they are at a stage of considering study choices and career options.
The campaign was successful in reaching the targeted number of students nationwide in record time. Students participated actively and creatively in the sessions, and their response to the key messages was positive.
“This is a good indication that the campaign will prompt positive perceptions among these students of tourism and encourage them to support and become part of this industry. There are plans to extend this effort to remote areas and other parts of Jordan that were not covered,” Osta added.
The tourism awareness campaign is designed to help meet some of the goals of the National Tourism Strategy, which seeks, among other things, to reduce the labor gap in the tourism industry. This gap is conservatively estimated at 25,400 jobs to be generated over the next four years.
The teacher-student campaign was implemented by the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) and the Ministry of Education (MoE), and ASEZA for the Aqaba sessions. The campaign has been applauded by the local communities it reached, who voiced their need for such educational efforts to help build the tourism sector.
The National Tourism Awareness Campaign aims to enhance the awareness and knowledge of more than 3 million Jordanians about the value of Jordan’s promising tourism sector and how tourism can affect them positively. Under the slogan ‘Tourism Enriches our Lives’, the campaign is spreading tourism awareness and getting across key tourism messages to seven audience groups. These are students, teachers (as career choice influencers), policy makers, professionals working in the tourism industry, tourism business owners and managers, the media and the general public. The campaign is being implemented in nine cluster areas: Salt, Madaba, Karak, Aqaba, Petra, Wadi Rum, Amman, Ajloun and Jarash.