AMMAN — Despite a
recovery in tourism activity in Jordan, car rental offices complain they are
unable to modernize their vehicles to meet the requirements of foreign renters.
اضافة اعلان
“Our infrastructure is capable of meeting the needs
of tourists, in addition to a qualified and trained manpower to deal with
incoming groups,” said Naeem Dawood, a tour operator since 2007.
“But the car rental sector is declining, and has not
recovered from the consequences of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly
affected it,” he told
Jordan News.
Mohammad Najeeb, head of the Jordanian Car Rental
Association, told
Jordan News that the fleet of tourist cars “must be
modernized, but the sector is suffering and can barely cope with the economic
hardships”.
He said that owners of car rental shops need
government support. “Operators in this sector receive little support, if compared
with peers in other countries,” he said.
“Operators abroad are provided with tax, customs,
and other exemptions, while in Jordan we cannot even extend the operating age
of the vehicle, which is six year”, he pointed out.
“In view of the prevailing economic conditions, it
is impossible for car rental firms to consider buying new vehicles to replace
the old ones they have,” he added.
An immediate solution, he proposed, is to “increase
the operational life of the vehicles, in addition to the need to reconsider the
civil liability law”.
“There are fabricated accidents for which the car
rental company bears responsibility, but before 2004 it was on the
responsibility of the insurance company, and this constitutes an additional
burden on us,” he noted.
Waleed Saadeh, the owner of a car rental firm, told
Jordan
News that “we cannot buy new vehicles because the workflow is weak, and the
expenses are high.”
He said challenges include high customs, “which is
300 percent the estimated price of the vehicle”.
“We thought about renewing the cars we have, but we
couldn’t because it will only lead to more losses, especially since we have not
fully recovered from the fallout of the pandemic,” he added.
“The business activity is usually good in the summer
only,” he said.
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