Jordan Travel Board enters into ambitious agreement aimed at wooing Nigerian tourists

JORDAN Travel Board (JTB) officials have entered into an agreement tour operator Nigerians Travel Too (NTT) to put together a comprehensive holiday package that will enable Nigerians tourists visit the Middle East country hitch-free.

Under the ambitious programme, Nigerian tourists who sign up to the scheme will be able to fly out of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and as well as Lagos and Kano states. Positioned to attract prospective travellers through a series of workshops, meetings and presentations in the respective locations, the ongoing education programme to woo holidaymakers will continue until November 8.

Over the last year, the Covid-19 pandemic stifled progress in global tourism, with many popular destinations closed or operating in a limited capacity. However, with recent developments that include the provision of vaccines, tourism stakeholders are keen on exploring opportunities to get more people to travel once again.

Jordan, widely regarded as the tourism Mecca of the Middle East before the pandemic, attracted over 5.3m international visitors per year. Nigerians have undertaken limited excursions to Jordan over the years, with the major challenges being visa and immigration procedures.

In a bid to cash in on this, Elizabeth Agboola, the NTT chief executive, has expressed great delight in the partnership with the JTB. She added that with plans to commence weekly direct flights with Royal Jordanian Air to Amman from Lagos and Kano respectively, it is projected that the new travel facility will launch in December 2021.

Ms Agboola said: “The Destination Jordan Roadshow will provide tremendous opportunities for those of us in the travel and tourism business to become more sensitised to what Jordan has to offer. We are happy that the JTB, Royal Jordanian Airlines and other Jordanian entities have formally adopted Nigeria as a new target market for tourism promotion and will be taking steps to expedite visa processing and other immigration procedures."

Faith tourism specialist, Amer Al Twal, said: “Jordan is a tourist destination which is open to Nigerians. We are looking to expand into this market as mentioned before as it has been on our radar for a couple of years now.

"We have not had the chance to work with a well-established tour operator like NTT in Nigeria to kind of facilitate a proper, diverse and dynamic itinerary for Nigerians to come to Jordan, so, that is our goal. We are trying to show the diversity of Jordan as a destination, as it is something which is unique and different to other destinations within the region.”