Private sector cries foul as Awqaf Ministry starts business

AMMAN — Jordanian travel agencies have expressed rejection of the establishment of a travel company by the Hajj Fund affiliated with Awqaf Ministry. 

The company is a “blatant encroachment” on the Jordanian Hajj and Umrah agencies, the Jordan Society of Tourism and Travel Agents (JSTA) Mohammad Samih said on Thursday.

JSTA, which include 709 travel agencies, of which 235 are specialised in organising Hajj (the greater Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) trips, has protested against licensing the company, met with MPs and will file a case against the fund, which belongs to the Awqaf Ministry, Samih told The Jordan Times.

 “The Tourism Ministry had refused to license the company for a while, then it suddenly did license it without the approval of the Tourism Committee,” the president said.

Regarding the reasons of protest against the company, Samih said that private travel agencies, which employ “hundreds” of Jordanians, will not be able to compete with a government-owned company that have a much larger capital collected by the fund from pilgrims.

As the company is owned by the ministry, which is an executive and monitoring authority, there will be no avenue for clients to complain about services, said Samih.

The ministry’s job has to be organising and monitoring the performance of private companies to ensure better services and prices for clients rather than being an investor, according to the president.

He noted that the company is specialised in Hajj trips, but was licensed as a regular travel agency that is allowed to organise all sorts of trips.

Despite several attempts by The Jordan Times Awqaf Ministry and the Hajj Fund were not available to comment. 

An official from the fund, however, has said that the company is legal and will create balance in the prices of Hajj and Umrah (lesser pilgrimage to Mecca) trips, according to a recent report by Al Rai Arabic daily.

The company came to “spare” citizens from overrated prices and to be an investment for the fund, which is the investment arm of the ministry.