Jordan's tourism industry struggling as Gaza war deters visitors

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Joanna Plucinska and Jehad Shalbak

PETRA, Jordan/LONDON (Reuters) - Enas Al Hinti has cut staff pay in half and asked workers to take unpaid leave in an effort to keep her hotel in ancient Petra open as Western holidaymakers fearful of conflict shun destinations in the Middle East.  

A crisis across the region's tourism industry since the start of the Israel-Hamas war 13 months ago is being felt acutely in Jordan, whose border with Israel along the Red Sea and Dead Sea is studded with beach resorts. 

Sites such as Petra, Wadi Rum and crusader castles have been drawing visitors for decades - more than one million a year before the war, mainly Americans and Europeans.  

But Reuters reporters on a recent trip to the city carved from rose-coloured rock - Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction - found businesses boarded up by their owners.  

"There are no revenues, it's all losses," Al Hinti, who runs the Nomads hotel, told Reuters.     

Data and interviews with seven hotel and business owners and tour operators underline the damage to the tourist industry, which last year made up 12.5% of the economy. 

Flight ticket bookings to Jordan, which is not involved in the conflict, were down 35% year-on-year between Sept. 16 and Oct. 4, data from travel intelligence firm ForwardKeys shows. 

The situation has worsened since Iran's drone strike attack on Israel in April and following tit-for-tat military strikes between Israel and Iran, said Seif Saudi, the managing director of Amman-based in Jordan Direct Tours.

"Things were starting to look up for October, but the second attack erased all those gains."      

LONG-TERM DAMAGE

The tourist industry across the Middle East is struggling. Flight bookings to the region are down 6% year-on-year since the war erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, ForwardKeys data shows.

Bookings to Israel and Lebanon fell even more sharply than those to Jordan between Sept. 16 and Oct. 4, while Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have seen smaller declines.  

The recent regional escalation of the conflict, including intensified Israeli attacks on Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group, has dashed hopes for a recovery in the cooler autumn months, a key season for Middle East tourism.

International tour groups like Intrepid and Riviera Travel said they cancelled tours to Jordan and Egypt after Iran showered Israel with ballistic missiles on Oct. 1.

Hotel occupancy rates in Petra have fallen on average to as low as 10%, estimates Abdullah Hasanat, president of the Petra Hotels Association. 

"We are searching for a saviour. All the investments in Petra are in intensive care. When tourism stopped, bookings stopped," Hasanat, who owns a hotel himself, told Reuters.

Most international carriers have halted flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv, but some, such as Ryanair, have also paused flights to Jordan, in part due to its proximity to Israeli and Lebanese airspace. 

Hotel owners said Ryanair's decision in particular meant far fewer Western tourists came to the country. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary told Reuters in October it was a "sensible" move given the closure of airspace at the time.

Before the war, Christian tourists making pilgrimages to Israel often also tagged on a trip to Jordan. 

WHAT'S NEXT

Business owners say the damage will be long-term. 

Future bookings have evaporated, forcing hotel managers like Al Hinti to dip into their financial reserves to continue paying salaries. She is keeping her hotel open, but with fewer floors available.

"We are facing next year with a drop of not less than 90-95% (in bookings)," said Nabih Riyal, CEO of Plaza Tours, which runs holidays with European and American operators.

Jordan's tourism sector has survived previous crises related to the prolonged conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Tourism Minister Lina Annab told Reuters.

"This calls for us to really focus on our most resilient markets, which are not as affected by the situation," Annab said, adding that visitors are still coming from neighbouring countries.

Some Western tourists are undeterred too.

"We knew that the trip would be cancelled if it was really risky," said Dorothy Lawson, a tourist from California, walking around Petra in late October. "They said we could come. So we came and we're really glad we did."  

But businesses that rely on big crowds are struggling to survive.

"We used to have 4,000 visitors every day," said Marcus Massoud, a salesman in one of Petra's many souvenir shops. 

"Now we have 300 to 400. It's not like before."

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Jehad Shalbak in Amman and Joanna Plucinska in London; Writing by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Josephine Mason and Catherine Evans)