Enhancing tourism in Jordan for families and children
Amman – To address a gap in information available about tourism and leisure activities for children and families, the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II organized a focus group to gain industry feedback on developing print and online guides for families. Around 30 government and private sector tourism stakeholders met to discuss their ideas and needs for creating content and information that is specifically targeted towards the family tourist segment.
The focus group was held this morning, and participants included representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Jordan Tourism board. In addition, there were tour operators; members of the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association; marketing staff from companies and service providers of kids activities; event management companies; potential publishers and companies that may be interested in adopting this product.
“I believe this focus group work is of great value to the tourism sector. We definitely need more solid information on family and children activities presented in a user-friendly format to targeted customers,” said Mr. Fayiz Khouri, JTB Deputy Managing Director. “Proper research about the available and sustainable activities and services needs to be conducted before we agree on the information guidebooks, web sites and brochures and its distribution channels.”
“Today’s focus group brings together key players interested in this niche tourism market to contribute towards developing a tourism and activity guide for families,” said Ibrahim Osta, Chief of Party, USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II. "This participation will ensure that the resulting guide will be comprehensive and effective, and will offer a better service to the families who use it."
Ms. Dana Zawaideh from Mountain Breeze Country Club said: "This meeting is significant as it highlights the role of service providers, and helps to promote their activities, thus contributing to their efforts to reach people."
Ms. Hind-Lara Mango, Publisher & Managing Director of Family Flavours magazine said," It's a great initiative and we need it to provide information to families through developing resources they can refer to."
Family tourism is a key market for most modern tourism cities around the world, and guides and web content specifically focused on families and children are produced to reach this market. However, such information is missing in Jordan, although the country offers much potential for attracting families and offering an exciting, fun and educational experience for children.
The focus group is the first step in an initiative to facilitate family tourism and the aim is eventually to produce a carefully researched guide on the best available attractions and activities of interest to families and children. Such a guide will be written from the perspective of parents, to help them plan their stay in Jordan and incorporate activities that are interesting and entertaining for their children. This may include experiences that capture children’s attention or help them learn in an interesting way, as well as active and nature-based activities.
The guide will present all information needed to plan trips, including descriptions, locations, costs, opening times, accessibility and available child-friendly services.