TOURISM INDIA MARCH 2019 TOURISM INDIA FEBRUARY 2019 | Page 34

DE S T I NAT ION / OU T B OU N D
2018 A LANDMARK YEAR FOR
INDIAN ARRIVALS TO
JORDAN
BOLLYWOOD FILM KRRISH 3 HAS FILMED AT JORDAN AND CAPTURED
THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE DESTINATION
J
ordan Tourism Board has
recently announced that it
has witnessed the growth
of 30.40% in 2018 from the Indian
market.
Dr. Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat,
Managing Director of the Jordan
Tourism Board, elaborated: “The
Jordanian-Indian relationship has
witnessed a tremendous positive
shift throughout 2018. His Majesty
King Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein’s
visit to India in February 2018 has
32
Tourism India February 2019
had a cascading effect on the whole
dynamics that connect both countries.
Granting Indian visitors an upon-
arrival visa was one of these changes
that helped increase the number of
Indian tourists visiting Jordan for its
remarkable religious and historic sites,
such as the Baptism Site and Petra,
one of the New Seven Wonders of the
World and a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. Moreover, close to Petra, one can
witness a Mars-like nature-crafted
setup called Wadi Rum, which, just like
Petra, has been incredibly used by big
Hollywood studios to shoot some of its
most iconic feature films, from Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade and The
Martian to the upcoming hits Aladdin
and Star Wars: Episode IX.
Bollywood has recently discovered
the magnificence of Jordan as a filming
location to shoot some of its feature
films, including Krrish 3, and with
the recently facilitated upon-arrival
visas, Bollywood’s presence in Jordan
is promising to be even more fruitful!
On a marketing level, the Jordan
Tourism Board executed a number of
marketing campaigns in India in 2018
to promote Jordan, which played a key
role in presenting Jordan as a go-to
destination in the Middle East."