COUNTRY: Jordan

CLIENT:
European Commission, Sequa gGmbH

PROJECT TITLE:
“Institutional Support for the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (IS-ASEZA) Tourism Information Center Specialist (TICS)”

SHORT DESCRIPTION

In February 2001, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) was established as the statutory institution, empowered with regulatory, administrative, fiscal, and economic responsibilities within the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) located on the Red Sea in southern Jordan. The EU-funded programme 'Institutional Support for the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority" (IS-ASEZA) has been designed to enable ASEZA to guide the zone towards becoming a dynamic and attractive engine of economic growth for the region and the country. The tourism component of the initiative stressed the development of Aqaba as a destination on the international tourist destination map for business and leisure. Therefore the guest information system should be professionalised.

To develop the current tourist information centre into a lighthouse model for the region and to create quality standards for high level tourism information services and customer care.

The following measures were carried out by AGEG consultants:

• Development of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the information centre's work and the current tourism information system in and around Aqaba
• Evaluation workshop with tourism stakeholders (hotels, diving centres, tour operators, etc.) to evaluate opportunities for collaboration with the private sector
• Development of quality standards, recommendations for the professionalization of the tourist information services and operational guidelines for professional management and design of the tourist information centre
• Capacity-development workshops and train-the-trainer workshops with staff of the ASEZA tourism authority and the tourism information centre.