Building Economic Sustainability through Tourism (BEST) Project

Despite these challenges, the industry remains an important pillar of the economy, with tourism contributing JD 3.2 billion or 14% of GDP in 2014. It is the single largest employer and the highest generator of foreign exchange. Tourism investment is expected to reach $793 million between now and 2020, and tourism provides substantial job opportunities throughout the Kingdom, mostly in Amman, Aqaba, and the Dead Sea areas. Jordan's competitive advantages in the tourism industry include its proximity to large regional feeder markets, diverse landscapes and climates, and the presence of major historical and religious sites. However, regional instability has dampened visitor numbers in recent years, and the growth forecast for tourism in the Middle East is between +2% to +5%, with a large degree of uncertainty and volatility. The Government of Jordan looks to its active contribution to the tourism industry despite the challenges. Tourism and real estate developments in Aqaba, Jordan's only coastal city, will help to boost hotel occupancy rates by generating economies of scale across the tourism industry. Regional conflict continues to be a challenge, with a clustering of economic activity in Amman driven by business, relief, and aid visitors who exhibit a different pattern of tourism service consumption than leisure tourists. Leisure tourists, including religious, cultural, eco, and adventure tourists, utilize the fuller extent of the tourism value chain, including buses, tour guides, services, and crafts by cooperatives, and tour operator services. They also exhibit a wider, more diverse geographic tour pattern, spreading their presence and spending across the kingdom to areas with key tourist draws from north to south. This type of tourism has diminished and is offset to a great extent with business tourism, mostly concentrated in Amman. The USAID BEST project aims to increase economic growth and job creation in Jordan's tourism sector. The project will provide support to increase economic growth and job creation in Jordan's tourism sector by creating a more enabling environment supportive of competitiveness in the tourism industry, developing, maintaining, and improving Jordan's tourism assets in ways that increase demand, expanding, developing, and deepening source markets, and increasing access to finance for Jordanian businesses and entrepreneurs in the tourism sector. The project will focus on several key areas, including business enabling environment supports competitiveness, tourism assets developed, source markets developed, and increased access to finance. The project will also focus on cross-cutting themes, including gender equality and female empowerment, and will work to leverage private sector funds, create jobs, and increase women's employment in tourism. The project's major results include leveraging $90 million in private sector funds, creating 17,000 jobs outside of Amman, with 50% targeting women, increasing women's employment in tourism by 15%, decreasing seasonal fluctuation by 30%, increasing arrivals by 20%, and increasing domestic tourism by 30%. The project will also work to improve the tourism competitiveness index and increase the number of tourists visiting Jordan's tourism assets.