Tourism in Jordan

Greetings, Lebanon this year has done for itself in regards to tourism and attracting GCC tourists. Personally I have never been to Lebanon, but all my family did. I always ask them what does Lebanon have that Jordan doesn't? Scenery? We have that. Weather? We have that. Restaurants? We have that. Resorts? We have that. Hotels? We have that. Malls? We have that. As a matter of fact, we have things that Lebanon doesn't have; Petra - Dead Sea - Aqaba. We might not have Cosmetic Surgery Tourism, but we have all other REAL MEDICAL tourism. Lebanon political situation not the most stable one in the world, while in Jordan one word I keep hearing from tourist and visitors SAFE. Jordan is the most stable country in the region. So I ask again, why GCC tourists go to Lebanon rather than Jordan? The blame can be divided into three: The People: SERVICE! We lack the "habeeb albi to2borny" attitude. We need to SMILE more often. Tourism Entities: They don’t market tourism to GCC countries, well. They just started on MBC and AlArabeya. Great job and long due. Also hotel prices are not affordable to the Jordanian citizen. (Need to encourage Internal Tourism). 20,000 Jordanians have visited Lebanon just last month. Again there is a great need of newly developed budget hotels for Jordanian citizens. The Government: High taxes prevent Tourist companies from offering real discounts. Labor law prevents hotels from hiring the right adequate staff. Hotel Labor Expense % in Egypt is only 10% while in Jordan it is 30%. So, for Jordan to compete with Lebanon in the tourism sector, we need to smile more often and offer good services to visitors. I think change is coming, check out this post: http://bambamworld.com/blog/?p=526#comments Peace