Jordan Govt To Woo Investors, Developers To Participate In Country's Tourism Industry

From Zairina Zainudin AMMAN (Jordan), June 6 (Bernama) -- Jordan, which offers tremendous business opportunities, is wooing investors to help develop a sustainable tourism industry there, said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Nayef Hmeidi Al-Fayez. He said investors were invited to enter into partnerships. "The tourism industry offers numerous opportunities to investors. If we bring in more tourists it would have an impact on total spending and on the economy. "So, we are looking for more investments in the tourism sector, from hotels to infrastructure and to transportation," he told Bernama on the sidelines of a two-day conference entitled "Seizing Tourism Market Opportunities In Times of Rapid Change" organised by the Jordan Tourism Board. Asked if Jordan had specific targets in terms of luring investors, Nayef Hmeidi said the country was looking for investments from all over the world and Malaysia was a key target country. "Malaysia is an important market for us," he said, adding that Jordan relied on Europe and North America in the past but 'the time was right now to start looking at Asian countries'. Jordan's travel and tourism industry generated US$5.40 billion (Jordanian dinar 3.8 billion) in tourist revenue which was equivalent to 18.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2011. -- BERNAMA