Aqaba hotels urge gov’t to lift curfew, claiming it impedes tourism activity

AMMAN — The Aqaba Hotels Association (AHA) on Tuesday called on the government to “seize a golden opportunity” by reducing curfew hours and adopting measures that would further encourage domestic tourism.

“Given the hard times the country has witnessed and the fact that people are unable to travel abroad, and have Aqaba as one of their major escapes, we hope that the government will adopt more measures to encourage people to travel to the port city,” said AHA President Salah Bitar.

This is a “golden opportunity” for Aqaba, which is located some 330 kilometres south of the capital, to become the “favourite” travel destination for Jordanians who would otherwise choose to travel abroad for a similar experience, said Bitar.

The AHA president told The Jordan Times that one of the association’s main demands is to be allowed to designate a private beach area for hotels located inside the city.

“Only five-star hotels have direct access to the beach and the rest of the hotels find it difficult to secure beach access for their guests,” Bitar said.

There are many families who “cannot afford five-star hotels, and at the same time, everyone who is staying at other hotels should have the right to access the beach without additional costs”, Bitar said.

The AHA president also called on the government to cancel the curfew completely in Aqaba, since most people “cannot move around before 8pm because of the heat”.

According to Bitar, most visitors and residents start going out at around 8pm, and three hours is “not enough” for tourists and shop and business owners to take advantage of the city’s nightlife.

“If you want tourism in Aqaba, the curfew does not work in our city… this is not tourism,” Bitar said.

Meanwhile, President of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZA) Nayef Bakhit said that the occupancy rate of hotels in Aqaba over the past few days ranged between 50 to 80 per cent, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Bakhit added that Aqaba “remains free of COVID-19 thanks to the extensive efforts exerted by various ministries and ASEZA to prevent the spread of the virus through strict health regulations”, Petra said.