The festivals, conferences and concerts that Aqaba hosts each year have outgrown their role as seasonal entertainment. They now function as an economic engine, one that ripples through hotels, restaurants, transport, retail, services and the local production and technical industries that support live events.
اضافة اعلان
As the city's events calendar expands and preparations move forward for the SOFEX 2026 exhibition and conference, alongside the Amwaj+ concert series and a growing lineup of specialized forums, Aqaba is positioning itself to capture more value from tourism and business travel. City officials are counting on the scale of economic activity these events generate, and on their ability to convert short-term visitor spending into lasting benefits for the local economy.
Aqaba has long been known as a Red Sea tourist destination. It is now working to turn its event calendar into a broader economic driver. No single figure yet captures the total economic impact of all events held in the city, but available indicators show that the events sector has become a growing part of Aqaba's tourism and business ecosystem, driving spending across hotel stays, local transport, dining, retail, logistics, technical production and tourism promotion.
The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority is leading this shift through the Aqaba Events Calendar 2026, which brings together cultural, entertainment and sporting events, business forums, and tourism and community initiatives under a single promotional agenda.
The authority has also launched Amwaj+, a dedicated category for major concerts and live entertainment, aimed at diversifying the city's tourism offering and sustaining economic activity throughout the year rather than concentrating it in peak season.
A Platform for Business and Investment
Development and economic experts argue that a visitor attending an international event should not be viewed as a passing presence. A visitor traveling from outside Aqaba needs accommodation, moves around the city, eats at local restaurants, shops in local markets, and may extend their stay with a tourism activity or additional entertainment, each step adding to the local economic cycle.
These experts say the economic impact of an event extends across the full value chain, not just direct ticket revenue, with accommodation, transport, dining, retail, services, technical production and tourism promotion all shaping the total value of visitor spending.
Economist Mohammad Al-Maghribi said the events economy works through a chain effect. The dinar a visitor spends on an event ticket does not represent the full economic value; it is followed by spending on accommodation, transport, food, shopping and services. Al-Maghribi said this means impact should be measured against the full value chain rather than an event organizer's direct revenue alone.
He added that Aqaba holds a distinct advantage as a tourist city, port and economic zone simultaneously, a combination that allows it to convert events into a platform for business and investment rather than treating them as seasonal activity.
On the entertainment side, large-scale concerts are becoming a bigger part of Aqaba's tourism identity, as the city works to attract Arab artists and performers and build concerts into the broader visitor experience. The Amwaj festival returns in 2026 with a full entertainment lineup, while the Amwaj+ platform is establishing live performance as a core element of the city's promotional strategy and its year-round economic activity.
Saudi artist Khaled Abdul Rahman, speaking after a performance during the Amwaj+ festival, said Aqaba has the qualities to make both artists and visitors part of an integrated experience. He said audiences who come for a concert are not there for the music alone; they also take in the city's atmosphere, the sea, the hospitality and the wider tourism offering.
Abdul Rahman added that the presence of Arab artists deepens awareness of the city among audiences across the region, turning music into a genuine bridge for promoting Jordanian tourism.
Dr. Thabet Al-Nabulsi, commissioner for tourism and youth affairs at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, said investment in events forms part of a broader strategy to diversify the tourism product. Al-Nabulsi said the authority does not view an event as something that ends when its program concludes, but as a tool to activate multiple economic sectors, increase visitor numbers, extend the average length of stay, and drive activity in hotels, restaurants, transport, retail and services.
He said the goal is to keep Aqaba active year-round and shift away from a seasonal model toward a continuous agenda of events that serves tourism, business and the local community.
Al-Nabulsi said the Aqaba Events Calendar 2026 was designed with this vision in mind, unifying efforts to promote the city as an integrated events destination. He added that the launch of Amwaj+ is part of a strategy to diversify the tourism product and attract high-quality events that raise visitor numbers and stimulate economic activity.
SOFEX 2026
With Aqaba preparing to host the SOFEX 2026 exhibition and conference, the city's events industry is set to take on an additional international dimension.
The event brings together decision-makers, delegations, companies and specialists across three days of meetings, with opportunities that extend beyond attendance to investment, partnerships, local services and mutual promotion.
International events of this kind typically draw an audience with specific business objectives, making conference halls a gateway to other sectors, particularly hotels, aviation, transport, restaurants, logistics and media production.
Tourism sector expert Osama Abu Talib said Aqaba's hosting of SOFEX 2026 should not be measured only by attendance figures or hotel occupancy rates, but by the city's ability to convert such events into a sustainable economy that creates local value and new opportunities for business and investment.
Abu Talib said the concept of an events economy goes beyond organizing conferences and exhibitions; it means building an integrated economic system that benefits hotels, restaurants, transport, retail and tourism sectors. He stressed the importance of measuring how much of that spending remains within the local economy, and how much local companies and suppliers actually gain from these events.
Abu Talib said SOFEX also offers an opportunity to market Aqaba and Jordan as a safe and stable destination for business and investment, particularly given current geopolitical conditions in the region. He said security and stability have become a core factor in the competitiveness of tourism and investment destinations.
He also called for building a comprehensive annual events calendar for Aqaba to help address tourism seasonality and transform the city into a regional hub for conferences, exhibitions, and sporting and cultural events.
Abu Talib said the true measure of SOFEX's success will not come when the exhibition doors close, but from the business, partnerships, investment and international reputation it leaves behind. He said the challenge facing Aqaba is no longer its capacity to host major events, but the scale of economic value it can generate from each one and sustain after the event ends.
