Amman, Feb. 8 (Petra) -- The Senate’s Tourism and Heritage Committee, chaired by Michel Nazzal, met with heads of tourism associations to discuss vision to develop legislation regulating the sector, mainly the Tourism Law Associations' representatives for tourist restaurants, Jordanian hotels, travel and tourism agents, tour guides, tourism transport, and the Jordanian Association for Traditional Crafts and Industries attended the meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Nazzal called for enhancing public-private cooperation in the sector, which is a "key driver" of Jordan’s economy due to its role in job creation and workforce absorption, stressing the importance of advancing tourism development.

Nazzal called for establishing an umbrella body for the sector by launching a Higher Tourism Council to orchestrate efforts and relevant references, underscoring a shift to achieve participatory governance by strengthening coordination and integration between the public and private sectors.

Nazzal said the proposed step would help develop a comprehensive national strategy to advance tourism, anchored in long-term planning and clearer division of stakeholders' roles, deliver sustainable tourist growth and improve service quality and competitiveness.

For their part, tourism association representatives said the sector faces challenges requiring urgent action, mainly multiplicity of authorities and overlapping mandates among relevant bodies.

They called for modernizing the legislative and regulatory framework to meet the sector requirements, improve the investment climate, and enhance competitiveness.

Urging "stronger" governance and institutional coordination under an umbrella entity, they stressed the need to revive tourist activity to ensure its sustainability across seasons.

//Petra// AO