JORDAN: ALREADY AFFECTED BY ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT JORDAN IS HIT AGAIN BY THE U.S. LED WAR AGAINST IRAQ

Record ID: 400838

  • Title: JORDAN: ALREADY AFFECTED BY ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT JORDAN IS HIT AGAIN BY THE U.S. LED WAR AGAINST IRAQ
  • Date: 14th April 2003
  • Summary: (W6) PETRA, SOUTHERN JORDAN (RECENT - MARCH 30, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV HOMES IN TOWN OF PETRA, NEAR TO SITE OF ANCIENT RUIN 0.05 2. GV MORE HOMES AND RURAL SCENE IN WADI MUSA (MOSES) VALLEY, NEAR THE TOWN OF PETRA; SLV WADI MUSA, LEADING TO PETRA 0.11 3. LAS TILT DOWN SLV WALLS OF WADI MUSA, WITH TREASURE OF OLD RUINED CITY OF PETRA VISIBLE
  • Embargoed: 29th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PETRA, SOUTHERN JORDAN
  • Country: Jordan
  • Reuters ID: LVA14VS6I0SN0VEVOSIZZG0T5LF7
  • Story Text: Already affected by more than two years of
    Israeli-Palestinian conflict along its western border, Jordan
    sandwiched neatly between the West Bank and Iraq is
    being hit again, this time by the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

    Nowhere is the lack of tourists more apparent than at
    Jordan's best known heritage site, Petra.

    Tourism has dwindled to almost zero in Jordan, with
    only journalists, essential diplomatic personnel and the
    hardiest of businessmen keeping the doors of the country's
    struggling hotels open.

    The tranquil desert scene in southern Jordan belies the
    violent struggles currently unfolding on both sides of
    Jordan's well-guarded borders.

    With an Intifada to the west and now a war against Iraq to
    its east, Jordan is exposed to the double-whammy of the
    world's two best-publicised conflicts, right on its borders.

    The result: Jordan has gone from being one of the world's
    top tourist destinations to one that concerned Western
    tourists could not be paid enough to visit.

    Initially the drop in Western tourism due to the Intifada
    was partly offset by an increase in Gulf Arab tourists. But
    the war in Iraq has put an end to almost all tourism across
    the region.

    Petra, Jordan's top tourist destination, is the best
    example of how the tourist boom has turned not just to bust
    but into a complete disaster for those dependent on tourist
    dollars.

    The narrow gorge leading to the astounding 2,000 year-old
    relief work seems as empty as it may have been before its
    rediscovery by a Swiss explorer (John L. Burckhardt) in 1812.

    Petra impresses, but its emptiness is almost more
    awe-inspiring.

    Nearby, guides who have brought a few passing journalists
    covering the war next door lounge in the sun, wishing for
    better times.

    The walls used to ring with the sounds of some 2,000
    tourists a day, coming from around the world to visit over 500
    rock-cut monuments, spanning 45 square kilometers, and cut
    from rock by the Nabatean dynasty.

    According to Mohammed, a camel handler and tourist guide,
    the average wage for a guide just three years ago was some 70
    U.S. dollars a day, a huge fortune locally.

    These days Mohammed is lucky to earn anything at all.

    "The war has affected tourism in Jordan and in the entire
    Middle East. In the past we had a lot of tourists and now its
    almost nothing," he said.

    Hossni, a horse handler based in the nearby town of Petra,
    echoes Mohammed's sense of dismay and wonders about the future
    of a town of 20,000, dependent almost entirely on a
    once-massive tourist industry which, like the original owners
    of Petra, seems to have entirely disappeared.


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