Jordan's tourism industry suffers as conflict in the Middle East trundles on

Being situated in a region of political instability and religious strife has cost Jordan dearly over the years - whether in relation to its misjudged support for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 or its difficult balancing act in maintaining relations with both Israel and the Palestinians - and as such it is sad to see once again the ill-effects of geography on this most welcoming of countries.

As Deutsche Presse-Agentur is reporting this week, Jordan's tourism industry is in crisis, with the number of visitors this year at just 30 percent of where visitor numbers stood in 2010. The cause of the downturn is clear enough: violence in neighbouring countries dissuades potential tourists from coming, despite the fact that Jordan is much safer than many other popular tourist destination, whether in Western Europe, the Americas or Asia.

However, the tourism industry is a major source of revenue for Jordan, and all those who depending on tourism - either directly or indirectly - are suffering at a time when the country is already bearing more than its share of the burden in housing refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Let's hope that 2016 brings more positive news, both for Jordan and the wider Middle East.

Al-Salt: Strong contender for world heritage status

As visitors who have spent any length of time in Jordan can attest, while the country punches above its weight in terms of its cultural and historical heritage and the beauty of its natural environment, recent urban development has tended to favour function over form. That is to say, cement blocks and and other utilitarian building materials predominate while streets often are dusty and traffic-clogged. 

View of old city from municipal museum balcony

Thus, it came as a very pleasant surpise on my visit to Jordan last year to arrive in al-Salt, a small city of about 100,000 inhabitants 35km North-West of Amman. Although the locale has been inhabited since ancient times, al-Salt’s heyday came in the 19th century, when traders from Nablus settled in the area and established an architectural legacy of distinctive stone building, many of which survive lto this day. As a result, walking in the centre of al-Salt is like stepping back in time, and the feeling is only strengthened the bustling street life with local people going about their business with not a single souvenir hawker or hustler in sight. 

Market street in the old city

All in all my stay in al-Salt was a highlight of my trip to Jordan, and as such I welcome the municipal authorities’ tenacity in making a third attempt to have their city inscribed as a world heritage site. While the previous attempts, undertaken in 1994 and 2004 respectively, reportedly suffered from their dependence on local experts, the city has now engaged an international consultant with experience working UNESCO to help develop the current bid. With a little over a month to the application deadline, I certainly hope that al-Salt proves to be third time lucky.

19th century home in al-Salt

Visit Petra virtually with Google Street View

While I use Google Street View chiefly for the mundane task of locating addresses in my home town of Ottawa, Google announced this week that it is adding the ancient Nabatean City of Petra to its catalogue of maps, allowing virtual tourists the pleasure of roaming about this world heritagesite without the hassle of in-person travel, not to mention the souvenir hawkers and camel ride hustlers featured on my blog earlier this week.

Although it took me a few minutes to get used to the interface, I was impressed with Google has accomplished.

More effective management required at Petra world heritage site

When making arrangements to spend a four-week holiday Jordan in July 2014 during the fasting month of Ramadan, I got more than a few quizzical looks and questions: Isn't four weeks too long? Won't everything be closed? Will it be safe? Won't it be unbearably hot? And so on and so on...

The Temple of Hercules in Amman

The truth is that Jordan is an amazing country which everyone should visit. Quite apart from the A-list of tourist sites, notably Petra, Wadi Rum, Jerash and the Dead Sea, Jordan has a tremendous variety of attractions, ranging from ancient ruins and castles to hiking and canyoning in breathtakingly beautiful nature reserves. Moreover, the country's sprawling capital Amman is also a well worth a few days' visit, whether to explore the Citadel, enjoy the world's best falafel at Hashem Restaurant or relax in a trendy café on Rainbow Street. And did I mention that there are few places I've visited where I felt safer or more welcome.

Souvenir stall inside a tomb

However, I do have one small complaint. The ancient Nabatean city of Petra, a world heritage site which receives more than half a million visitors each year, appears to be experiencing significant challenges related to the effective management of the site. These include:

• The proliferation of shops and kiosks throughout the property without any apparent regard for the physical impact on the site’s temples and monuments. In some cases shops and kiosks have been established within temples or ground in the vicinity of temples and monuments has been levelled or otherwise physically altered to facilitate the construction of kiosks.

• Ubiquitous and often aggressive solicitation of visitors by local community members for services such as donkey or camel rides or for the purchase of souvenirs.

• Minimal control of the property exercised by authorities, whose presence appears limited chiefly to access points to ensure that visitors have purchased a ticket prior to entering the site.

I understand that these problems are linked to the authorities' inability to address the aspirations and grievances of the local Bedouin community, many of whose members were displaced from the area years ago and now earn a living from visitors by selling trinkets, refreshments or animal rides. In this regard Petra stands in contrast to the many other world heritages sites I have visited around the world, including several in countries facing development challenges even greater than those confronting Jordan.

Child hawking postcards near Petra's Royal Tombs

I hope the Jordanian authorities take steps to address these issues, both for the sake of the ruins themselves and the local population.

Impressions of Quseir Amra, a "castle" in Jordan's Eastern Desert

Jordan is known principally among Western tourists for the ancient Nabatean city of Petra, typically visited on a side-trip from Israel, although these days many are foregoing even this short jaunt into Jordan given the country's uncomfortable proximity to the Middle Eastern flashpoints of Syria and Iraq. This is a shame, for not only is Jordan comparatively much safer than many other popular destinations in Western Europe and North America, but it offers an array of sights and activities that should be enough to satisfy even the most discerning of visitors.

Jordan's Eastern Desert Highway

Having spent almost a month in Jordan last year, one of the experiences I enjoyed the most was visiting the country's "desert castles" over the course of several days. These castles were not so much strongholds for the aristocracy as complexes which in their heyday served diverse purposes, ranging from hunting lodges to caravan rest-stops. Built chiefly during the period of Umayyad rule over the region in the 7th and 8th centuries CE, and scattered over hundreds of square kilometres in Jordan's Eastern Desert, they differ greatly from one another in terms of their setting, layout and degree of preservation and restoration. 

Quseir Amra

One desert castle in particular stands out as it enjoys the status of world heritage site. Known as Quseir Amra, the complex originally served as a garrison and pleasure palace of the Umayyad caliphate. On the day of my visit on a very hot day in July there was no one else around apart the keyholder who insisted on giving me a personal tour (gratuity expected of course). Although the site is quite modest as one approaches from the high ground near the roadway, the interior is incredible, with beautiful frescoes covering the walls, including one of the earliest known surviving portrayals of a map of the heavens on a domed ceiling. 

Domed ceiling featuring map of the heavens

Credit goes to the Jordanian authorities for taking steps to maintain and protect Quseir Amra, and perhaps from this perspective it is just as well that the site is not marketed as an "A-list" destination, given the physical damage and other ill-effects that mass tourism is clearly inflicting on Petra.