The question in promoting Jordanian tourism is not how to photograph Petra, Wadi Rum, or the Dead Sea. Those sites need no one to prove their beauty to the world.
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The real question is whether Jordan can give a Jordanian content creator of international standing the genuine opportunity to rediscover their homeland — and then share that experience with their millions of followers.
As someone who follows visual and audio media closely, I believe Jordan has a real opportunity to rethink how it uses media and visual content in tourism promotion.
A visit by a globally influential creator to Jordan should not be treated as a fleeting occasion that produces a set of conventional photographs. It should be treated as an opportunity to build a comprehensive media and tourism experience.
Jordan already has media practitioners who have established a global presence — individuals capable of transforming a place into a story, a story into an image, and an image into content that crosses borders and reaches wide audiences. We must be smarter about how we use those opportunities.
The right approach is to give creators genuine freedom: to choose the location, the story, the angle, the style, and the production. The core value of their work lies precisely in their ability to notice details others overlook.
A creator might find a story in Aqaba that we have never seen, present Wadi Rum from an unfamiliar angle, visit a Jordanian village unknown to most, or meet a Jordanian whose story is worth sharing with the world. That is where the real story begins.
It is a mistake to view influencers solely as people whose follower counts we should capitalise on. Numbers matter, but they are not the only measure of value. The greater value lies in a creator's ability to produce a visual and human experience that allows viewers to feel present in a place before deciding to visit. That is precisely what Jordanian tourism needs today.
Jordan does not need another video simply declaring that it is a beautiful country. That image is already familiar to a wide global audience. What is needed is content that makes viewers feel they are there — content that lets them hear the sounds, see the details, meet the people, and discover what lies beyond the conventional picture.
The modern tourist is not looking only for information; they are looking for an experience. A good story can turn curiosity into desire, desire into a decision, and the decision to travel into economic activity that benefits hotels, restaurants, transport operators, tour guides, artisans, and local communities.
This is what makes tourism promotion an integral part of the economy, not merely a media or advertising exercise.
Every successful tourism story can open a new market. Every piece of content that reaches an audience outside Jordan can bring a potential visitor closer. Every genuine human experience can help build a more authentic image of the Kingdom.
Jordan has enough stories to produce this kind of content. There is Petra, but there are also the people who live in its shadow. There is Wadi Rum, but there are also the tales of Bedouins, travellers, and adventurers. There is Aqaba, but there is also the Red Sea, its marine life, its diving sites, and its water sports.
There is Jerash, Umm Qais, Madaba, Karak, Ajloun, Dana, and the Baptism Site. And beyond all of these, there are Jordanian villages, regions, and faces that can offer the world a different image of Jordan than the one familiar from traditional promotional material.
The goal, then, is not to reproduce what the world already knows about Jordan, but to add to that knowledge.
Achieving this requires more flexible collaboration between tourism authorities, media outlets, and content creators — collaboration whose aim is not simply producing direct promotional material, but crafting authentic stories that are watchable, shareable, and widely circulated.
It also requires investing in Jordanian content creators themselves: giving them the opportunity to explore their country's regions and present them in ways that reach local, Arab, and international audiences. In the digital age, tourism promotion is no longer confined to traditional advertising campaigns. Personal experiences, human stories, and distinctive visuals have become key tools in shaping travel decisions.
Most importantly, tourism media must be viewed as a long-term investment in the national economy. The goal should not be increasing views or follower counts alone, but translating digital interest into tangible results: more visitors, longer stays, higher tourist spending, wider distribution of economic benefits across governorates and local communities, and greater opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises linked to tourism.
Jordan has no shortage of tourist sites, and no shortage of stories. The real challenge may lie in our ability to discover those stories and present them in a language the world understands and engages with.
So when a Jordanian or international creator with access to millions comes to us, we should not simply ask, 'Where would you like us to film?' We should ask, 'What did you see in Jordan that we missed?'
That answer could be the beginning of a new tourism story, a new media value, and a new economic opportunity for Jordan.
In an era when images can shape decisions about travel, investment, and exploration, producing meaningful tourism content is no longer a media luxury. It has become an integral part of the tourism industry itself — and of converting the beauty of a place into sustainable economic value.
This article was originally written in Arabic by Emad Abdelkader Amr for Al Ghad.
