By Sahil Pandey, New Delhi, July 22
At a time when the crisis in the Middle East has shaken the region, Jordan's Minister of Tourism Makram Mustafa A Queisi on Monday said that his country is safe for tourists despite the ongoing conflict.
On his maiden visit to New Delhi, Queisi aims to double the incoming tourists in Jordan from India. Regarding the apprehension among tourists because of the ongoing Middle East conflict, Queisi told ANI, "The message is that Jordan has been always strong, resilient and safe. This is not the first crisis but we hope it's the last that we face in the region. We have a problem of perception and that exists in the West and I don't expect that this also exists in a country like India. The case is completely different. With the West, they look at the Middle East as one unit." On the impact of the Middle East crisis in the context of tourism in Jordan, the tourism minister said, "We're impacted heavily only by the decline in number of tourists from the West, although they constitute maybe 16 per cent of my tourism but 60 per cent that constituted from Arab World was not impacted at all." Expressing his views on the relations between both countries, Queisi remarked India is a very important investor in Jordan in the phosphate and potash industries. "Indian investors are the most important in the garment industry. Indian investors are very important in the Jordanian exchange market. The volume of trade between Jordan and India is huge," he added. Jordan's tourism minister will also explore the opportunity for making his country a wedding destination and also revealed that actors from the Indian film industry are shooting in the country. During his visit, he also aims to resume direct connectivity between New Delhi and Amman.