Key Sectors

Tourism
This sector contributes positively to supporting the Jordanian economy in view of the number and variety of sites of natural, religious, historical and health interest, for Jordan is characterized by a rich heritage as represented by the large number of world-known tourist sites like Petra, Amra Desert Palace, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea and the Baptism Site in addition to more than 27 thousand discovered and registered historical sites.

The amount of investment in this sector has increased in view of Jordan's adherence to an exceptional national stance towards the sustainable development of the tourism sector through an effective and basic partnership between the public and private sectors in addition to Royal patronage of the sector as His Majesty King Abdullah II has given it great importance as one of the economic priorities in the country in view of its ability to create job opportunities, support the government's budget and attract investments. A national strategy for tourism was launched recently aimed at doubling the income from tourism to 1.3 billion Jordanian Dinars by 2010, creating more than 51 thousand new job opportunities, activating the participation of local communities in the development of tourism, increasing the competitiveness of this sector, providing the necessary infrastructure and developing touristic products as well as setting tourism marketing and promotion policies.

The strategy is based on four basic elements which are: supporting tourism marketing, enhancing competitiveness, developing human resources and modernizing institutional and organizational frameworks. It is also based on several basic principles, the most important of which are: a partnership structure between the public and private sectors, developing exceptional products and investment in marketing, raising awareness, providing services and human resources.

A series of procedures were adopted in order to support this strategy including lowering taxes on the hotel sector as a preliminary step. In fact, the general sales tax on sleeping accommodation in hotels in Amman was lowered from 16% to 7%. This will be followed by another stage represented by lowering taxes on the restaurant sector in order to increase competitiveness and bring these taxes into line with world standards.