Jordan woos high-end Indian tourists

PANAJI - Jordan, which is home to several Christian heritage sites, has the infrastructure for high-end tourism, a consultant to the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) said at a road show here Monday.

Addressing a press conference, JTB’s consultant Shirish Sharma also said that India featured in the top five priority countries as far as tourism to Jordan was concerned.

“There are not too many two-star and three-star hotels in Jordan. Our tourism is high-end. In the range of hotels we have are popular global brands like Kempinski, Hyatt and Four Seasons,” he added.

Earlier, explaining the historic and religious significance of Jordan, Sharma also said that the Middle East country was a “holy land” in the true sense of the word.

“Jordan has Mount Nebo, from where Moses first saw the holy land. Bethany, where Jesus was baptized by St John the Baptist, is also in Jordan,” the consultant said, adding that Jordan was conducting a week-long road show in India, selling Jordan to the suave, intelligent and rich Indian tourist.

“In the first five months of 2010 alone, Jordan has attracted 22,000 Indian tourists. India is one of the top five priority nations for Jordan, along with the US and other European countries,” he said, adding that tourism contributed to 17 percent of the nation’s GDP.