Jordan: More than Meets the Eye: Jordan: a Final Remark

After one intensive week in Jordan, we finally came to the end of the trip. This whole summer school program has changed my perspective, specifically regarding my perception towards Jordan and the encounters between host and guests. My initial expectation when I enter this country was that I will have a feeling similar to the ‘death drive’ (Buda, 2015) which is defined as a force or feeling between life and death. Nevertheless, I was feeling the exact opposite of what I expected; a feeling of joy for being able to travel to Jordan and to meet the locals who are very friendly and welcoming. My anxiety was proven to be irrelevant.

Moreover, I noticed that there were very little amount of other foreign tourists who came to the touristic sites; most of the other visitors were Arab tourists. In this case, many parties were affected by the decline in tourist inflow to the country. Not only travel agents and companies that suffer, the most significant change happens to the local communities whose income is dependent on touristic activities. I believe that the label “dark tourism” which is defined as travel to places connected to death, disaster, atrocity and ongoing socio-political conflict (Buda, 2015) is not suitable for the tourism in Jordan. Although there were conflicts happening in the other countries surrounding Jordan, there was hardly any dangerous event happening inside Jordan. I learned that, while most of the facts and figures gave us a negative view regarding the condition, one should not take for granted the information that he/she get from the media. With the beauty, hospitality and kindness that Jordan has to offer, I believe that tourism in this country deserves more attention rather than only the “yellow code” label from international communities.

As a concluding remark, here I present you some of my favorite things in Jordan: