Ajloun. As the main and most important development front in Ajloun governorate, tourism has become a central concern for many activists and observers, who have taken to tracking its points of strength and growth compared to earlier periods, while also flagging challenges that still stand in the way of the governorate fully rising to become the preferred tourist destination for visitors seeking every type of tourism, in ways that would positively reflect on the local community.
اضافة اعلان
On this subject, a study prepared by former governorate council member, tourism committee head, and tourism activist Munther Al-Zaghoul addressed a set of strengths and weaknesses that need strengthening on the positive side and thorough, well-considered treatment on the challenge side, including upgrading infrastructure, increasing tourism and antiquities budgets, easing licensing for tourism facilities, and supporting young people wishing to develop their projects or launch new ones.
Al-Zaghoul says in his study that there are eight strengths that make Ajloun the most important tourist destination at the level of Jordan and the region, noting that Ajloun governorate has become one of the Jordanian governorates attracting the largest number of visitors from inside and outside Jordan, and that the governorate and its tourist and archaeological sites may take the lion's share of Gulf tourism, which favors Ajloun over other areas and governorates.
He noted that Ajloun governorate contains more than 300 tourist and archaeological sites dating back thousands of years and spanning different eras, sites that still stand as eyewitnesses to civilizations that inhabited and built up this region, leaving behind a great heritage of civilization and construction that still stands tall across every part of Ajloun's land. Ajloun governorate is also home to the two most important Christian pilgrimage sites, the Church of Our Lady of the Mountain and Mar Elias, all of which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
Al-Zaghoul also noted that Ajloun is among the most important Jordanian governorates for olive cultivation, hosting the world's oldest olive tree the Al-Mahras olive — found in a number of the governorate's areas such as Al-Maysar in Hashimiyya, as well as other areas like Al-Wahadneh, Deir Al-Samadiyeh, Rasoun, Orjan, Wadi Al-Tawaheen, and other parts of the governorate, along with other crops that now draw tens of thousands of visitors annually to stock up on everything grown and produced in Ajloun, chief among them Ajloun's olive oil, which is distinguished at the global level.
Key Strengths
He added that among the most important strengths in the tourism field is the cable car project, and that the national park and the therapeutic hospital will soon be completed; all these projects, foremost the cable car project, have created a major qualitative shift in Ajloun's tourism, and the annual visitor numbers now flocking to Ajloun confirm these facts. He noted that another promising factor is the presence of hundreds of private tourism projects now found across all areas of the governorate — cabins, chalets, tourist resorts, farms, rest houses, guesthouses, upscale restaurants, and hotels.
Al-Zaghoul pointed to the role of festivals showcasing Ajloun products, and the involvement of the development zone authorities in supporting and backing these festivals and Ajloun's productive families, which gave them added strength Ajloun governorate now draws tens of thousands of visitors to these festivals, who then go on to visit Ajloun's tourist and archaeological sites. He affirmed that the people of Ajloun themselves have played a major role in reinforcing these strengths, being by nature generous, hospitable, and welcoming to all.
Challenges
Regarding challenges and obstacles, Al-Zaghoul explained that a number still face the tourism sector, foremost among them the issue of infrastructure at the governorate's entrances and exits and the roads leading to most tourist and archaeological sites and tourism facilities, which are now in dire need of comprehensive rehabilitation. The proposed alternative road to Ajloun, the ring road, and reviving the King's Highway may be among the most prominent proposed solutions in this area.
He noted that the city center of Ajloun, up to the castle, the cable car, and the bus station area, remains among the most prominent and important challenges facing the tourism sector in the governorate, with everyone having observed the suffocating traffic chaos Ajloun experienced in spring when the governorate hosted tens of thousands of visitors, posing a major challenge for all field personnel including security agencies, traffic police, tourism staff, development zone staff, municipalities, and other relevant bodies.
He pointed out that the real challenge facing the governorate in general and its tourism sector may also stem from an acute water shortage in the governorate, including at tourist sites and facilities, making it necessary for all efforts to come together to finish, as quickly as possible, the water transmission line project from beyond the Kufranja Dam to the Al-Qa'ida area in Anjara a major project that offers some solutions to the governorate's water sector problem.
Al-Zaghoul affirmed that among the most important obstacles still standing in the way of Ajloun's tourism sector is the weakness of budget allocations for the tourism and antiquities sectors, which do not exceed tens of thousands [of dinars], in addition to the problem of easing licensing for tourism projects in the governorate — an issue considered among the most important challenges facing the sector. He noted the need for continuous meetings with tourism project owners to identify the main challenges they face and work on finding appropriate solutions, especially as the governorate has begun witnessing a genuine boom in tourism sector investment.
Training and Employment Programs
He explained that to continue advancing the tourism sector in the governorate, it is necessary to continue the training and employment programs that were previously running strongly between the Ajloun Vocational Training Institute and the Ajloun Tourism Directorate, as these programs used to supply tourism facilities with dozens of qualified trainees annually. Such programs have become an urgent necessity for private tourism facilities in Ajloun, many of which have lost qualified personnel working in tourism and in providing the various services this important sector needs, highlighting the need to launch intensive training and qualification programs targeting local residents working in this sector to raise their competence and equip them with the necessary skills.
Al-Zaghoul affirmed that despite all the efforts made to advance the state of tourism in the governorate, the options available to a visitor to Ajloun remain, to this day, roughly the same as they have been for a long time the castle, Mar Elias, the tourist trails, and a few other sites in addition to the cable car, which later constituted a very important qualitative shift in the governorate's tourism reality. Here, the major responsibility falls on the Ajloun Tourism Directorate and the Ajloun Development Zone to bring dozens of other sites into Ajloun's visitor program, and activating the new Ajloun Visitor Center may hold the appropriate solutions to this issue, through preparing comprehensive studies of the governorate's tourism reality and the sites that could be visited, contributing to developing the tourism sector and advancing all areas of the governorate.
For his part, Ajloun Tourism Director Firas Al-Khattatbeh affirms that the directorate's plans focus on developing the tourism sector and supporting local development through continuous coordination and field follow-up, covering several areas, including ongoing monitoring of tourist sites, hotel facilities, and restaurants to ensure service quality, joint coordination, and permanent cooperation with local partners, the Ajloun governorate council, and official bodies to improve infrastructure, as well as diversifying programs and promoting different types of tourism such as ecotourism in the Ajloun Reserve to attract more visitors and stimulate activity, and supporting events that help showcase archaeological and religious sites to make the governorate a sustainable destination.
For his part, Director of the Ajloun Development Zone, engineer Tariq Al-Maaytah, affirms that the Ajloun cable car project constituted a major starting point and a development lever in the governorate's tourism development path, having contributed to a qualitative shift by transforming Ajloun from a quick-visit stop into an integrated tourist destination combining nature, history, and entertainment.
He noted that the project has recorded record numbers, receiving tens of thousands of visitors monthly, having welcomed 56,000 visitors last August, affirming that it has boosted economic activity and supported local communities and productive families by stimulating business for restaurants, cafés, transportation services, events, and rural markets.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting: Amer Khattatbeh
