Tourism Ministry calls for discussions after guides hold sit-in

AMMAN — The Ministry of Tourism responded to tour guides holding a sit-in outside the ministry on Wednesday by calling for talks to discuss the protesters’ demands. 

Tour guides had sent a letter to the Ministry of Tourism to protest measures they said were negatively affecting their profession. 

The Jordan Tourist Guides Association (JTGA) sent The Jordan Times a copy of the list of demands sent to the ministry. 

The JTGA’s administrative assembly said the sit-in aims at reviving the faith of the general assembly members and the partners of the association by working on resolving the problems that have been piling up over the years. 

The letter included demands to suspend the ministry’s plans to hold workshops if not carried in coordination with the JTGA, citing a need to limit the number of enrollees to 30 guides. The ministry’s plans were to train around 80 or more guides, according to the letter.

The list also included demands to reinstate the language test’s minimum required grade to 80 per cent instead of 75 per cent. 

The association asked the ministry involve the association in decision making processes, and bar work permits for Chinese translators, adding that the association will provide the ministry with a list of Jordanian translators who are fluent in Chinese. 

The letter also called on the ministry to not provide permits to guides with no educational degree, and expressed their rejection of a plan to increase the number of guides in Jordan to 2,000.

After the sit-in, JTGA President Raed Abdelhaq told The Jordan Times over the phone that the ministry agreed to discuss the list of demands and study them in detail, issuing a letter on the matter and sharing it with the guides through the ministry’s secretary general. 

According to a copy of the letter provided to The Jordan Times by the ministry, officials and the association will hold meetings to discuss the demands in further detail, as well as other aspects and the future of the sector.

“Tourist guides in Jerash, Petra and Aqaba also carried out sit-ins today, and they voiced the same demands and other additional demands related to their respective areas,” he said, adding that the guides in those areas were also received by officials and their demands will be discussed as well.