Jordan is new tourism destination for Nigerians

Published 03 Nov,2021 via The Nation - The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is expanding its tourism offerings to Nigerian tourists to include leisure, education, wellness and other touristic activities.

This is in addition to Christian and Islamic pilgrimage, for which the country has already started receiving pilgrims from Nigeria.

To achieve this, Jordan is holding a tri-state roadshow to sensitise prospective Nigerian tourists on the tourism offerings in the country.

The roadshow is being undertaken in partnership with one of the leading tour operators, Nigerians Travel Too (NTT) from 31st October to 8th November 2021 in Lagos, Kano and the Federal capital Territory (FCT).

A team of representatives of the Jordan Tourism Board, which includes Dr. Justin Abu Anza, Medical and Wellness Tourism Unit head, Mr. Amer Essam Jmal Twal, Mass Tourism/Mixed Faith Specialist and Mr Ahmad Mohammad Al Khattab, Islamic faith consultant are in Nigerian for the roadshow.

Managing Director of the Jordan Tourism Board, Dr Abdalrazzaq Arabiyat, said: “Nigeria represents a new tourism target market for Jordan. The aim of our roadshow in Kano, Abuja, and Lagos is to increase awareness about Jordan as a tourism destination and highlight various tourism experiences such as Islamic and Christian faith, luxury/leisure, medical and educational tourism.”

Jordan is also home to one of the seven world wonders, Petra.

Ms. Elizabeth Agboola, CEO and Founder of Nigerians Travel Too, while expressing her delight in the new partnership, explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious effect on the global tourism and travel sector, and that with many popular destinations being closed to tourists or having limited scope for entry for nearly one year, tourism stakeholders are keen to explore opportunities to get more people to travel once again.

Agboola declared: “We are excited to be working closely with the Jordan Tourism Board on this project and we have prepared a diverse and creative programme for the roadshow that will facilitate direct engagement between members of the Jordanian and Nigerian tourism fraternity at various levels”

This has been echoed by Dr. Arabiyat who has expressed appreciation for the “efforts and support of NTT in providing us with the opportunity to explore the true potential of the Nigerian market to Jordan”.

The roadshow will feature workshops, meetings, and presentations in the respective locations. Dr. Arabiyat noted that he and his team are excited about their visit to Nigeria. They are ultimate, ‘looking to facilitate the entry of Nigerian tourists into Jordan by simplifying entry requirements and processing visa(s) in a reasonable amount of time’’.

It is envisaged that the new travel facility will commence in December 2021 with weekly direct flights with Royal Jordanian Air from Lagos and Kano respectively to Amman Jordan.
During the Lagos roadshow, Amer Essam Jmal Twal explained further on the tourism offerings in Jordan:

“Let’s start with Christians; as at the time the NCPC came to Jordan, they’ve been looking at Jordan as a new destination as part of Holy Land.

“They needed more information but once they were inside the Jordan, they noticed the authenticity and spirituality of the sites. Just imagine, the church leaders, led by Rev. Yakubu Pam, standing over the baptism site, the exact place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

“In John 1:38, it spoke about Bethabara. The experience pilgrims had at that time was indescribable. We had over 15 flights with about 2500 passengers. That was the first part. The next part will be the Islamic tourism.

“We have a lot of shrines; we have a lot of places they could visit. It is Halal tourism. There is the diversity of Islamic shrines and the large number of prophets that were located in Jordan, buried in Jordan and have historical significance to parts of Islam in Jordan.

“What we are trying to say is that our main focus as a tourism board is that we have sub-segments and strategic products that we are working on. Luxury and leisure tourism are our main focus right now.

“We are looking forward to having more Nigerians visit Jordan because Jordan has lots to offer as a nation. We are talking about sun and sand; we are talking about historical cultural experience; we are talking about food experience; we are talking about different activities.

“The beauty of Jordan is that everything changes as you move from the north to the South. So, you can move from greenery and very modern centre to historic ruins to sun and sand, including Dead Sea.

“There are different experiences that you can take part. We are here to give a brief of what Jordan has to offer because I think Nigerians have little information about Jordan. We are trying to give a different perception to what Jordan is, and what Jordan has to offer.”

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