With a pioneering initiative led by the Jordan Restaurants Association (JRA)
to systematize and increase job opportunities in the tourism and hospitality
industry, and with full support from the ministries of tourism and antiquities,
and labor, all ingredients are in place for the tourism sector to play a
promising role in easing unemployment in the country, which now stands at more
than 22 percent.
اضافة اعلان
The initiative, launched last week, involves the
first comprehensive online employment platform in the tourism sector:
www.siyahajobs.jo.
The site’s homepage tells the whole story. Employers
can post jobs for job seekers, and opportunities for training are also
available at individual and corporate levels. In other words, it is a one-stop
shop that is expected to be a major pillar in the response to the several
challenges facing tourism in Jordan.
The initiative is the collaborative effort of JRA,
Tourism and Hospitality Skills Council and European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The bank took care of the support and
funding, offered by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
In his remarks at the inauguration of the project,
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Nayef Al-Fayez highlighted the significant
weight of tourism as a major contributor to GDP, at 13 to 14 percent.
Human resources development, a key component of the strategy, involves a set of tangible goals, including “education and training of qualified human resources for tourism sector employment that are congruent with the needs of local and regional markets”.
Driven by a shortage of skilled labor, the tourism
authorities took an important step ahead of the networking project, signing a
deal with the Vocational Training Corporation, in early September, to
offer training to 500 young people working in the sector, from the capital and
different governorates of the Kingdom.
Before that, the National Tourism Strategy up until
2025 had been launched. Human resources development, a key component of the
strategy, involves a set of tangible goals, including “education and training
of qualified human resources for tourism sector employment that are congruent
with the needs of local and regional markets”.
The training and upskilling will engage women and
youth, while local communities that rely mainly or partially on tourism-related
economic activities will be also targeted with development plans.
To wrap up, all elements of success are there for
www.siyahajobs.jo — strategic planning, the will to do, partnership with the
right entities, focus on human capital development, grassroots involvement,
goal-oriented efforts, capitalizing on assets and previous achievements,
integration, among others.
This is the right recipe for success if
implementation is carried out according to the best international practices.
According to Essam Fakhriddin, president of JRA,
this does not apply only to tourism, but to all the sectors of the national
economy, which should follow suit to make a positive difference in their
performances and results.
Tourism authorities seek to reach the 2019 figures,
when the tourism sector hit a historical high, with an annual revenue of around
$5.8 billion, and exceed them. That can be reached, especially that more
promising initiatives like
www.siyahajobs.jo are coming.
Khalid Dalal is a former advisor at the Royal Hashemite
Court, former director of media and communication at the Office of His Majesty
King Abdullah, and works currently as a senior advisor for media, strategic
communication, PR, international cooperation, and business development locally,
regionally, and globally. khaliddalal@aol.com
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