At the same time, Marriott International, Arab International Hotels Co. and Mr. Muasher mutually agreed to certain territorial exclusivity arrangements providing for the development of future hotels in Jordan in addition to the currently operating properties: the 294-room Amman Marriott, the 251-room Jordan Valley Marriott Resort & Spa and the 100-room Petra Marriott.

The 264-room JW Marriott Hotel Aqaba will be ideally situated on the northern beach of the Gulf of Aqaba immediately adjacent to the Aqaba Marina, creating a unique destination that connects the city and the sea. The site is located in the center of Aqaba and fronts onto a public beach on the Gulf and provides easy access to prized tourism destinations like Petra and Wadi Rum and all offshore reefs and water sports for which the Red Sea is famous. Aqaba International Airport is 10 minutes away.

“Our relationship with Arab International Hotels Co. and Nadim Muasher runs deep and long,” said Ed Fuller, president & managing director of international lodging for Marriott International. “It’s a relationship that has gained momentum in recent years and continues to grow in a mutually beneficial way. We’re thrilled to be working with them on this important addition to the tourism infrastructure of Jordan and are confident that the hotel will be a catalyst for the future growth of the tourism industry in the country.”

“The Amman Marriott started operations some 30 years ago and was one of the first Marriott hotels to open outside the US,” said Mr. Muasher. “We are happy that now we will be adding the JW Marriott in Aqaba to our properties in Amman, the Dead Sea and Petra. Our relationship with Marriott is pivotal to our expansion schemes and we look forward to many years of a successful partnership with Marriott International.”

The stylish, contemporary JW Marriott Hotel Aqaba will complement its exterior environs with public areas that offer space, light and excitement. It will feature a wide range of food & beverage offerings, including an informal, vibrant lobby lounge; a pool bar with a covered terrace; an all-day casual restaurant; a specialty steak outlet; a restaurant connected to the marina and a Champions sports bar.

Accommodations will be spacious and will offer the latest in modern guest services and amenities including wi-fi, flat screen television, internet access and other electronic capabilities.

For recreation, the hotel will have an exceptional state-of-the-art health and leisure club that will incorporate a spa and a gymnasium featuring a yoga room, Turkish bath, indoor and outdoor swimming pool and a children’s play center.

Guests will appreciate its executive lounge, book shop and business center. Other amenities include a spa shop, a gift shop and 12 additional retail outlets.

JW Marriott is part of Marriott International’s luxury portfolio and consists of beautiful properties in gateway cities and distinctive resort locations around the world. These elegant hotels cater to today’s sophisticated, self-assured travelers, offering guests the luxury they seek in a warmly authentic relaxed atmosphere lacking in pretense. JW Marriott properties artfully provide highly crafted anticipatory experiences that reflect their locale so that their guests have the time to focus on what is most important to them. There currently are 45 JW Marriott hotels in 19 countries. By 2013, the portfolio is expected to encompass 74 hotels in 29 countries.

Source: AME Info (http://www.ameinfo.com/225537.html)

With stunning views of the city, the 252 rooms present a whole palette of tones and colours and a variety of rich fabrics. All the rooms are spacious and elegantly furnished in a classical style, but if you have the chance, you should opt for one of the suites, or, for that extra special occasion, the Royal Suite, located on the eighteenth floor.

This sumptuous 150 square metre haven has hosted such great names as the late King Hussein and President Mubarak of Egypt. One floor up is the health club and at the very top there’s an indoor pool on the roof terrace – a perfect setting for a bathe and a light meal or a drink while admiring the panoramic view. When it comes to dining, you can choose between the delights on offer at the Al Madafa restaurant, or Trader Vic’s with its tropical ambience, exotic specialities and cocktails accompanied by the live music of a Cuban band. And, of course, the hotel is an ideal location for exploring this fascinating city of contrasts, between the desert and the fertile Jordan Valley.

Source: Hello (http://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/201003013003/regency/palace/amman/1/11/)

Jordan’s increasingly young population is helping shape this new scene, a tamer version of the Middle East’s so-called ‘sin city’, Beirut, renowned throughout the Arab world for its lively nightlife.

“You know, 15 years ago you could barely find a taxi after eight in the evening – the streets were mostly empty,” said Sarah, an American and long-time resident of Amman. “But nightlife has changed drastically since I first came in the early 1990s when there were basically two places to go other than the big hotels,” said the public relations executive as she listened to live jazz at Canvas, an upscale restaurant in a historical district of the capital.

Actor Nabil Sawalha, who owned a nightclub called the Cart Wheel in the 1980s, has also noted the difference. “Many years ago, there were very limited places to go out in the city,” Sawalha told AFP. “A few people could afford to go out for partying or dancing once or twice a month. We used to do so and return home by midnight. But now things have changed and partying has become a lifestyle for young people,” he said.

A decade ago, the upmarket west Amman neighbourhood of Abdun was lined exclusively with embassies and the stately villas of the city’s old wealth and newly rich. But the streets now share space with restaurants and cafes sprouting up to cater to a young clientele eager for a taste of Western-style leisure.

Even places in the heart of Amman’s old district, like Rainbow Street, have undergone a facelift, where venues with names like Wild Jordan, Books@cafe and La Calle now draw an intellectual and Bohemian crowd. Driving luxury cars and sporting the latest fashions, many of these young, affluent Jordanians gather almost every night at the chic new spots.

“The new generation has brought new phenomena from the West, created a new atmosphere and started to steadily break free from old traditions and Amman’s old image as a quiet city,” sociologist Seri Nasser of the University of Jordan told AFP

Source: Daily Times Pakistan (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20102\26\story_26-2-2010_pg9_7)

The new system, based on service criteria, was launched in a ceremony yesterday attended by Ministry of Tourism officials and industry representatives.

Under the previous system, developed in 1993, hotels were graded mainly on physical attributes such as size, type of flooring and the presence of a swimming pool.

Under the new standards, developed by the Ministry of Tourism, the USAID-Jordan Tourism Development Project (JTDP) and the Jordan Hotels Association, all hotels’ basic and additional amenities will be graded, ranging from electronic-locking mechanisms to the presence of safes in every room.

Each hotel will be given a three-month period to rectify its violations, and by 2011 all hotels will be reclassified in line with the new standards, according to the ministry.

Crowne Plaza Amman General Manager Oussama Massoud, who served on the committee that developed the new classification, said the system aims to serve as a tool for visitors, hotel managers and investors alike.

“Hotel owners can now understand what they have to do to reach a certain classification: Whether they have to invest in a swimming pool or a conference room, and what type of air conditioning units,” he told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the ceremony.

According to Massoud, the standards also place an emphasis on staff, at the personnel and managerial level, in order to ensure facilities have an adequate number of employees to provide optimum service at all times.

The new classification system, developed over a period of three years, was tested in “mock inspections” and is specifically tailored to the Jordanian market, he added.

In her address at the launch, Tourism Minister Maha Khatib underlined the need to extend premium services to accompany the grandeur and variety of the Kingdom’s tourist sites.

“It is important not only to attract large numbers of tourists, but to have high-quality services in the sector… to guarantee that visitors come back for a second or third time,” she said, underlining that the classification system represented a “model of cooperation” between the public and private sectors.

USAID Jordan Mission Director Jay Knott noted that the tourism industry has grown “leaps and bounds” and has weathered the global economic downturn.

“It is one thing to have what the tourist wants, but the second thing is you have to communicate that in a way that can be trusted. This new classification system provides that,” he said yesterday.

According to Nabel Matar, general manager of the Thuraya Hotel, the new standards will make it easier for hoteliers to gauge the criteria and prepare their hotels accordingly.

“It was more confusing in the past; now we know where we stand before we open our doors,” said Matar, whose three-star hotel became the first to be classified under the new standards earlier this month.

As part of the nationwide hotel reclassification, 12 inspectors will tour facilities in the northern, central and southern parts of the country and upload their reports electronically and directly, reducing the lag time between the inspection and the recording of a hotel’s standards, the USAID-JTDP said.

In addition to the 134 basic criteria a hotel will have to meet in order to receive a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating, 250 optional standards will determine ranking, ranging from the presence of a safe in each hotel room to wireless Internet access.

The standards also offer new classes of hotels: Boutique hotels and tourist resorts. The first must meet three-star standards, be located in a historical district and have distinct and unified design and architecture, while the second should be located near a resort area, offer fitness or wellness activities and provide meals, among other amenities.

As part of the reclassification, apartment hotels will also be held to new standards, such as including kitchenette equipment and guest bathrooms, in order to maintain their rating.

Source: Jordan Times (http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=23471)

On Monday, the St. Petersburg pensioner reached his goal, amid throngs of Orthodox faithful on the muddy banks of the Jordan to mark Epiphany — for eastern Christians the feast of Jesus’s baptism and the traditional high point of pilgrimages from Russia that are now enjoying a post-Communist revival.

“I wanted to come for so long,” said the 73-year-old, beaming despite the unusually rain-laden skies over the desert dunes as he recounted how one of his forebears — he can’t quite recall how many “greats” to put before “grandfather” — walked for seven months from Russia to this spot in the 19th century.

“He was an industrialist, at Perm in the Urals. His journey to the Holy Land changed his life. When he returned home he founded schools, an orphanage,” Andrei Borisovich said proudly.

“Of course, it all turned to dust with the Revolution.”

Unlike the devout Russians of his ancestor’s day, who risked death and disease to stream in their multitudes by land and sea to Jerusalem as the Ottoman imperial lock on the Middle East faltered, Andrei Borisovich and his fellow pilgrims made few sacrifices — they were on a week-long package tour by air.

But for those seeking confirmation that the long hiatus in the spiritual life of the Russians after the Bolshevik triumph of 1917 is over, then the eve of Epiphany — January 6 on the old church calendar — on the river Jordan is a place to see it.

“For every Christian, it is important to come here,” said Abbess Nikodima, the superior of a convent in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa, who has brought groups of pilgrims annually for the Epiphany rite on the Jordan since 1994.

It is also a trend that Israel, whose army very visibly controls the West Bank of the river, is keen to encourage as it looks to capitalize on religion to bolster tourism numbers.

“We are fewer this year, because of the recession,” Nikodima said, as her 30-strong flock of Russians and Ukrainians jostled with visiting Greeks and Romanians, as well as local Palestinian Christians, for a better view of the rush-bounded pool where they believe John the Baptist plunged Jesus under the waters.

“But,” Nikodima added, “Pilgrimage remains very important to us. It is here we see the mystery of repentance.”

RELIGIOUS FERVOUR UNDER TSARS

Accounts from tsarist times speak of fervent peasants and devout Russian nobles flocking to Jerusalem, especially between Christmas and Easter. The latter left their mark in the holy city with onion domes and icons that have been burnished of late as the Kremlin leadership has rediscovered the Orthodox Church.

On Epiphany, aged peasants, some half dead from the rigors of the months-long journey, wrapped themselves in the shrouds they hoped to be buried in before wading into the Jordan, seeking reassurance for the afterlife.

On Monday, dozens made it into the river from the Jordanian bank. But Israeli police made sure the faithful on their side had to content themselves with immersing shrouds in basins marked “Jordan Water: Not Drinking”.

As well as the translation into Russian of the “Danger, Mines!” signs that line the razor wire along the route through the dunes to the sluggish, 5-meter (20-foot) wide stream that marks the frontier with Jordan, there are other indications that Israel, now home to a 15-percent, mainly Jewish Russian-speaking minority, is putting out the welcome mat for Russian Christians.

The Moscow-born Israeli tourism minister is targeting a new surge in visitor numbers from the former Soviet Union, on top of a boom in the past few years that has made Russia second only to the United States as a source of tourists for Israel, which makes 6 percent of its national income from the sector.

On the far bank, Jordan is also developing its promotion of Christian tourism, as the cranes and construction sites rising out of the desert just north of the Dead Sea attest.

Easier Israeli visa rules for Russians have helped treble visits from there in the past three years. The government aims to do the same for Ukrainians, despite critics who fear helping crime gangs which have flourished among ex-Soviet immigrants.

For the Christians on the Jordan on Monday, the important thing was just to be there. Many could not even see the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem release a dove of peace or plunge a cross into the sacred water in celebration of Epiphany.

“It is just good to be in the Holy Land,” said one Moscow pensioner who did not want to give her name. “Now, no one forbids us to pray,” she said, gesturing as if firing a rifle to depict the fate some Christians feared under communism.

“Now the pilgrim’s way is open again.”

Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/18/world/international-us-religion-orthodox.html?_r=1)

The qualitative research project unveiled yesterday was carried out to better understand the perceptions of UK tourists, who form an important source of tourism revenue, according to industry officials.

British tourists have long represented a traditional market, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Maha Khatib said, stressing that the market needs to be further utilised in order to maintain Jordan’s status as a major destination.

“We do not need effort in understanding it, but we need to recognise the gaps, protect that market and make it grow as fast as possible,” she said.

Supported by a grant from the USAID Jordan Tourism Development Project and carried out by the Jordan Tourism Board, the project sought to gauge levels of awareness and perception of Jordan as a tourism destination in the UK market.

The report stressed the rising potential market of tourists with disabilities in the UK, who have a combined income of $6 billion.

British travellers are relying less on tourism boards and traditional guidebooks when considering travel destinations and are referring more to the experiences of previous travellers, with 70 per cent stating that they trust user-generated content on Internet forums, Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.

Khatib underlined the misconception of Jordan as a “seasonal destination”, identifying the need to promote the Kingdom, known for its temperate weather, as a year-round destination.

“We need to stress that Jordan is a place where you can enjoy your time in the coldest days of the winter and the warmest days of summer,” she added.

Although the Kingdom witnessed a 56 per cent increase in British tourists in 2007, the same year Petra was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, this figure has declined by 6.2 per cent over the last two years, according to the JTB

In the first half of 2009, UK visitors represented 11 per cent of the European market, according to the JTB and tend to spend more money while in the Kingdom in comparison to other travellers.

According to the survey, some respondents were unaware that Petra was located in Jordan.

Other associations made with the Kingdom included Roman ruins, and connections to films such as Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones. The romantic and far-away scenery of the desert, such as Wadi Rum, appealed to the British market, as did the Kingdom’s safety.

However, many of the visitors said Jordan exceeded their expectations as they were unaware of the diversity of sites the Kingdom has to offer.

British travellers, many of whom arrived in the Kingdom on package tours, tended to have longer stays, the report indicated, with an average stay of around 10 days.

The reliance of visitors on package tours bucked the trend of British travellers in general, an increasing proportion of whom are looking to travel independently, the study showed.

British visitors to Jordan were most likely to have visited Petra, as 93.2 per cent polled said they went to the rose-red city, closely followed by Aqaba and Wadi Rum.

Most of those who have yet to travel to the Kingdom, expressed interest in visiting Petra (90.3 per cent), followed by Wadi Rum (79 per cent) and the Dead Sea (78.2 per cent), according to the study.

British travellers who seek adventure tourism are not looking for physical activities, but rather to travel to far-off and exotic locations, the study showed.

Demand for eco-tourism is also rising in the UK, the report said, noting that the Kingdom can capitalise on its unique natural beauty in order to fully exploit the market.

Director Nayef Fayez stressed that the board is taking the study into consideration in reaching out to the UK market, underlining the need for further support from the private sector.

Source: Zawya (http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20100113034053/Most%20UK%20travellers%20unaware%20of%20Jordan%27s%20tourist%20offerings)

French tourists,46000, topped the list of foreign visitors to the city in 2009, followed by 37000 tourists from Spain, Italy around 36000, Germany 29000 and about 11000 from Switzerland. Ja’anini stated that the Directorate intends to carry out two major projects this year with an estimated total cost of JD 750.000.

The two projects include expanding Madaba visitors’ Center and decorating facades of shopping centers and other facilities. Located about 30 kilometers to the southwest of Amman, Madaba is a pleasant, relaxed little town well known for its Byzantine mosaics and being the most Christian town in the Kingdom.

The city includes many holy sites, such as Mount Nebo, where Moses is believed to have seen the Holy Land for the first time, Bethany, where Jesus believed to have been baptized. The best known site in Madaba is the” Mosaic map” which lies in St George’s Church. This Greek Orthodox Church built on the site of a much larger church dating to Byzantine times.Unearthed during construction of the new church in 1896, the mosaic was once a clear map with 157 captions (in Greek) of all major biblical sites from Lebanon to Egypt. The citizens of the City of Mosaics are proud of their Christian heritage, and they are proud of the tolerance between both Christians and Muslims in the city.

Source: FANA News (http://www.fananews.com/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=716008&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1)

As reported in TheMarker this week, the entry fee to the Nabatean city for visitors entering Jordan from Israel who do not stay in the country overnight will be $130, beginning October 1 of this year. Those arriving from Egypt or other countries will pay $74 to tour Petra. The tour operators say the price difference will drive tourists to spend a night in a hotel in Aqaba or Egypt rather than in Eilat to avoid the extra charge.

The new fee schedule is to apply to anyone entering Jordan from Israel, irrespective of their nationality.

Tourism operators have already complained to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov about the discrimination, and are hoping that the strong personal ties between Peres and the Jordanian king will work in their favor.

The Israeli tour organizers also sent a letter to their Jordanian colleagues, asking them to do whatever they can to repeal the decision in the name of cooperation.

On Monday Petra tour organizers held an emergency meeting in Eilat, during which they passed a unanimous resolution to cancel all tours scheduled to set out for Petra on January 15, next Friday. They also agreed to hold a protest at the Arava border crossing if tangible progress is not made on the issue by next week.

Source: Haartez.com (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141283.html)

The USAID-Jordan Tourism Development Project (JTDP) extended a grant on Wednesday to the Jordan Motorcycle Club to encourage inbound and domestic tourism on motorcycles.

The two institutions will also work to cater to motorcycle enthusiasts visiting the Kingdom and coordinate with regional motorcycle clubs for events and tours, according to the grant.

// The club, which is operated by the Jordan Motorcycle Association (JMA), will work with the US-based Motorcycle Safety Foundation to establish safety standards – such as proper road behaviour and requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets – and develop a training course for motorcyclists.

The Kingdom is replete with winding scenic roads passing archaeological and natural sites away from major highways, the perfect routes for motorcycle rides to highlight the country as an “open-air museum”, according to JMA Secretary General Raja Gargour.

“We have the most beautiful natural scenery on Earth. How better to see them than in the open air rather than in the confines of a bus or a car?” Gargour told The Jordan Times yesterday.

“The road from Wadi Feinan to Petra is stunning, and the road from the Dead Sea to Karak is as if you’re driving along the Grand Canyon,” he said, describing back-roads in green areas such as Ajloun and Jerash as the “perfect destination” for motorcycle enthusiasts from the Arabian Gulf.

According to the grant agreement, USAID-JTDP will also help the club develop a website to link with similar associations and transform the JMC into a new tourism product to offer activities and “adventure experiences”.

“Supporting motorcycle tourism will help diversify the tourism offering in Jordan and attract a niche market of visitors to the country, in addition to promoting a new way to explore Jordan’s amazing sites to locals,” said Ibrahim Osta, chief of party of USAID-JTDP.

According to Gargour, the JMA aims to act as a regulatory agency, and registration from the association will become a requirement for motorcycle owners to receive and renew their licence.

Through cooperation with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, the JMA will develop safety manuals and initiate a training of trainers programme according to international standards in order to provide lessons for drivers and aspiring club members.

Once certified, riders will obtain a licence enabling them to import and ride motorcycles with engine sizes above current national limits, according to the association. Should riders commit traffic violations, such as improper riding behaviour or driving without a helmet, the club would revoke their membership, Gargour noted.

By Taylor Luck

© Jordan Times 2010

Source: Zawya (http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20100107032828/Agreement%20paves%20way%20for%20motorcycle%20tourism%20in%20Jordan)

Jordan has asked Canada to seize the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls, on display until Sunday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, invoking international law in a bid to keep the artifacts out of the hands of Israel until their disputed ownership is settled.

Even if Canada ignores the request, it will make other countries think twice before accepting the controversial exhibit.

Summoning the Canadian chargé d’affaires in Amman two weeks ago, Jordan cited the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which both Jordan and Canada are signatories, in asking Canada to take custody of the scrolls.

Jordan claims Israel acted illegally in 1967 when it took the scrolls from a museum in east Jerusalem, which Israel seized from Jordan during the Six-Day War and subsequently occupied. The Hague Convention, which is concerned with safeguarding cultural property during wartime, requires each signatory “to take into its custody cultural property imported into its territory either directly or indirectly from any occupied territory. This shall either be effected automatically upon the importation of the property or, failing this, at the request of the authorities of that territory.”

This means Canada must act, says Jordan. “The Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan would be grateful if the Government of Canada would confirm … whether it is prepared to assume its international legal responsibility, and the means by which it intends to do so,” it wrote.

While confirming that Canada has received a message from Jordan, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said yesterday that “differences regarding ownership of the Dead Sea scrolls should be addressed by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. It would not be appropriate for Canada to intervene as a third party.”

The ROM’s exhibition of the scrolls, mounted “in partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority,” opened on June 27.

While Jordan has acted only recently in asking Canada to take custody of the scrolls, the Palestinian Authority has made its position known since April, when Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper concerning what it argues is the illegal use of the scrolls.

Jordanian and Palestinian officials insist they do not want Canada to determine who owns the scrolls, but simply to place them under Canada’s safekeeping until their ownership is determined.

The ancient Hebrew scrolls were part of one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the 20th century. Discovered in 1947 by Bedouin Arabs living in the area northwest of the Dead Sea, the first seven scrolls found their way into Israeli hands and became a prize exhibit of the new Israeli state’s national museum.

The majority of the Dead Sea scrolls, however, were uncovered in the seven years following the initial discovery in an operation supervised by Jordan on land it occupied west of the Jordan River. The scrolls, many consisting of thousands of fragments, were taken to the Palestinian museum in east Jerusalem for study.

While neither the Jordanian nor the Israeli museum talked to the other, scholars in both camps believed the scrolls were the library of an ascetic Jewish sect called the Essenes, described by first-century historian Josephus as living in the Qumran area. The scrolls had been hidden in caves, it was believed, to hide them from the Romans.

Having received a formal request to take custody of the scrolls, Canada appears to be under some obligation to take action.

The Cultural Property Export and Import Act, Canada’s own legislation to enact the Hague Convention, states: “If the government of a State Party submits a request in writing to the Minister for the recovery and return of any cultural property that has been exported from an occupied territory of that State Party and that is in Canada in the possession of or under the control of any person, institution or public authority, the Attorney-General of Canada may institute an action in the Federal Court or in a superior court of a province for the recovery of the property by the State Party.”

It adds that in the event that the Attorney-General institutes legal action to recover such property, “The court may … order that the property in respect of which the action has been taken be turned over to the Minister for safe-keeping and conservation pending final disposition of the action.”

From the start, Israel has argued it is not asserting its ownership of the scrolls. “We are the custodians of the Dead Sea scrolls,” says Pnina Shor, head of the conservation department at the Israel Antiquities Authority. “As such, we have a right to exhibit them and to conserve them.”

Israel argues that the short-term, temporary exhibition of scrolls in another country does not constitute “exportation” under the Hague Convention, and that all the scrolls in its possession are part of Jewish heritage.

Palestinian experts acknowledge the scrolls are Jewish, but argue that they are also part of Palestinian heritage just as ancient Roman and Byzantine ruins comprise part of their history.

Source: The Global and Mail (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/jordan-asks-canada-to-seize-dead-sea-scrolls/article1416369/)