About

Summary

This study was part of the joint project of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): Covid-19 Tourism Recovery Technical Assistance Cooperation Package – Facilitating Tourism Recovery in Aftermath of Covid-19.  It encompassed two separate projects: the development of an online tourism data dashboard and the development of a roadmap on the future of tourism in Jordan.

The data dashboard was a tool developed in Power BI that linked together a wide range of tourism statistics collected in Jordan, mainly by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, into an interactive online dashboard for users to interrogate.

The roadmap on the future of tourism was a comprehensive report that identified 33 trends impacting the tourism sector in Jordan, some triggered by COVID-19-induced transformations in the industry itself, some by technological development, and other changes in the source markets.

Our Approach

The scope of the data dashboard was developed in consultation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, based on the range of data they were able to collect and compiled on a monthly basis, which would ultimately be stored in spreadsheets linked to the Power BI interface.  These were: international visitor arrivals, international visitor expenditure, accommodation supply and utilisation, inventory of tourism sites and their usage, tourism employment, and domestic travel.  These were linked to six individual dashboards, with a seventh providing summary statistics for each one.  Users could interrogate the database through the selection of the year, years they wanted data for, and the data type being sought.

The roadmap for the future of tourism related to one or more of the following sub-sectors: airlines, transport, tour operators and guides, accommodation, destination management, food and beverage, and handicrafts.  Each trend was clearly identified with an explanation of why it was important and its relevance to Jordan, followed by recommendations regarding how to respond to it for growth and successful development in the sector.  Where relevant, business modelling recommendations were made which identify opportunities for investment and diversifying business operations.

Outcome

The tourism dashboard was published online at the end of the study so that it could be used by the public and private sector to quickly access the latest tourism statistics related to the country.  The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities received training regarding the updating of the system with the latest data.

The roadmap for the future of tourism ranked each of the 33 trends by importance, depending on the speed of recovery of tourism in Jordan over the following three years.  This allowed the reader to focus on those trends that would be most significant depending on the recovery path tourism took over the period 2022-2024, and beyond.