WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS ON CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES AS A RESULT OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT (CASE OF PETRA, JORDAN)

Tourism development in poverty reduction in the city of Petra, Jordan and its economic, social-cultural, and environmental impacts on Bedouin tribe: a review of USAID Project in 2014. 

Author: D. I Kim (2019, Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne)

The façade of Al-Kazneh in Petra (source: Unsplash)

Introduction

Location of Petra and Jordan (source: maphill)

 

Tourism is one of the Jordan’s major sources for foreign exchange (Shoup 1985, p.277) and contributing over 14% of GDP (USAID 2013, p.3). Tourism in Jordan is “the largest generator of private sector employment in the kingdom (p. 3). As Jordan has plenty of archaeological sites and biblical sites, the government has made considerable efforts to attract more western tourists and Christian pilgrims (Shoup 1985, p.277).

Particularly, the city of Petra (Figure 1) is one of the most famous archaeological sites in Jordan and in the world in which has around thirty- five thousands of visitors every year (1989- 2017) (CEIC 2018; MOTA 2010). The city of Petra was the ancient Nabatean capital and commercial centre which is beautifully carved in red stone. Petra is located nearby the town of Wadi Musa in the southern Jordan and 240 km away to the south from Amman, the capital city of Jordan (Mustafa & Tayeh 2011, p. 88).

Petra, as one of the most popular touristic destinations in Jordan, has gained a huge amount of economic benefits. For example, it is reported that the total entrance fees of Petra were 17821,663 JD (1JD = 1.4 US $) in 2010 which is contributing with 81 % of total tourism sites entrance fees in Jordan (Jordan Press Foundation 2011). Such economic contributions have also resulted in the construction of a number of different types of accommodations for tourists[1]. Moreover, tourism has been contributing to increase of the employment rate of local tribes, Bedouls and Layathnaa, living around Petra, and most of them are working in travel agencies, tourist restaurants, car renting offices, souvenirs shops and horse guides (Mustafa & Tayeh 2011, p. 90).

In this paper, we will particularly shed light on a project conducted by USAID[2] (United States Agency for International Development) in 2013-2014 that supported the tourism development in Jordan since 2005. The local community in Petra is not severely suffered from the absolute poverty (i.e. deprivation of basic needs); however, the current issues in education, the local handicraft market, preservation of the archaeological site of Petra, overpopulation of the local village, has been rising and threatening the environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability of the local community in Petra. This paper, first of all, will examine the current issues identified in Petra as a result of tourism development. Second, we will examine the USAID’s tourism development strategy on the local indigenous community in 2013-2014, which is principally represented by the Bedul Bedouin tribe, the traditional residents in the city of Petra for over a hundred year. Lastly, this paper will attempt to propose some recommendation for the future improvement of the current issues.

 

Current issues in Petra as a result of the tourism development

 

-       Environmental impact

There are some environmental impacts on the preservation of archaeological site of Petra as a result of the growing number of tourists. One of the preservation issues of Petra is the damage of the site’s rock-cut features because of tourists’ random climbing and movement (Mustafa & Tayeh 2011, p. 90). Furthermore, owing to the crowds of the tourists in the site, the rising level of humidity has been causing the corrosion of sandstone (Lubick 2004). It is also reported that some of the locals in Petra used to sell tourists the broken part of sandstone as souvenirs (Mustafa & Tayeh 2011, p. 90).

-       Economic impact

The general perception of the local community in Petra on the development of tourism is fairly positive as they believe that tourism has brought them positive economic impact in principally generating income and job opportunities. Further, most of the local people express their favourable angle on tourism in regard to the increase of the prices of lands and properties as a result of the huge number of investors in the region (Mustafa & Tayeh 2011, p. 92). However, on the one hand, tourism development in Petra has brought economic benefits for the local communities at some extents; on the other hand, there are still some minor groups in the community who do not regard themselves to gain the sufficient amount of economic benefits.

According to the interview by Mustafa and Taye (2011, p. 92) toward the local community in Petra, one of the respondents answered that “The contribution of tourism cannot be seen since the income generated by the tourism is not used in enhancing these services and facilities”; similarly, the improvement of amenities in Petra was not for the local benefits but for the tourists.

In addition to the negative point of view on tourism, the local handicrafts and souvenirs in Petra have been endangered by the cheaper foreign products imported into Petra. In detail, since 1950s many handicrafts of the Bedouin in Petra such as woven carpets and tents had been on the decline due to the fact that the ready-made ones from Damascus could be purchased easily in any villages around Petra, and also plastic bags and suitcase replaced their traditional woven storage bags (Shoup 1985, p. 285).  Around the 1970s and 1980s, there have been growing number of the willingness of tourists to purchase the traditional Bedouin items which resulted in the revival of local handicrafts and arts, in turn, women also had been able to economically contribute to their households (p. 285).

Regardless, according to the two of respondents that interviewed by Mustafa & Tayeh (2011, p. 94), a respondent said that “It is supposed to, but it has really a very minimal contribution, instead of importing souvenirs from India and Pakistan, we hope to have more centres to make local souvenir pieces”, and the other said that “Yes, but unfortunately… most of the handcrafted pieces are from abroad, like those from India and Turkey, I have a shop where 95% of the sold material is not locally made”.

 

Majority of Bedhul tribes engage in the tourism industry and give up nomadic life (source: Wikimedia)

 

It is reported that tourism development in Petra also has given negative impacts on the social-cultural sphere of the local community in Petra- 1) Children workers in the tourism and the increasing number of youths dropping out of school; 2) the limited living space in growing population of the local community; 3) devaluation of the local tradition.

First, many youths living around Petra are dropping out of school and working in the tourism industry in order to either help their families sell souvenirs or to prefer themselves working over education. The Globe post (2008) reports that “more than 400 children work in tourism in Petra. This number can fluctuate to reach up to 550 children in the high season and 250 children in the low season”. Al- Kloub (2018) from the Globe Post interviewed several young Bedouls (aged between 13- 21) who chose to live in the caves in Petra; and they believe that even if they get educated, there are no jobs for them. The real situation that young Bedouin children are aware of is that “those who have degrees not making much more money than their uneducated parents working in tourism (Ajaka 2008)”. Similarly, although they recognize the advantage of education on behalf of a better social, economic or political position, they don’t like the school or teacher which can be meant by that the poor regional education rather pushes them away from schools (Al- Kloub 2018).

Alhasanat & Hysat (2011) and Hejazeen (2007) note that “revenues from tourism helps people to support their families and provide a better standard of education for the children, although there is also the negative effect of children dropping out of school at an early age because of the attractions of access to an immediate and easy source of income”. It is also reported that 40% of the children worker’s parents are illiterate and thus may not be aware of the importance of education (Al- kloub 2018).

Ajaka (2014) from Aljazeera news reports that in 2009, UNESCO designated folklore and traditions of the Bedouin in Petra and Wadi Rum as intangible heritages which are in need of urgent safekeeping. However, it is argued that such designation rather devalued education among the Bedouin communities that work at the sites which once had nomadic life and now heavily rely on tourism for their livelihoods (Ajaka 2014). In other words, the UNESCO’s designation would rather boost up the commodification of Bedouin culture for tourism, thus the awareness of the importance of education will be abridged and children will more engage in working in the site.

Secondly, the overpopulated Um Sayhoun village is another social issue that the locals encounter. For this reason, many young Bedouins who want to get married become frustrated because of the fact that there is a lack of space in their village to build their houses (Ajaka 2014). However, for several years, in spite of the fact that the government of Jordan seems to have been attentive on this issue, there have been no effective actions conducted to solve the housing issue in Um Sayhoun[3]. According to the interview by Aljazeera (2014) on a resident of Um Sayhoun, “There is no space for us to grow at all… if the government doesn’t give us the land, we will move back to the caves in Petra.”.

Third, as more tourists visit Petra, the local community has been more exposed to the western tourists and their culture which particularly believed to accompany with some immoral values such as alcohol abuse, indiscreet sexual interaction with foreign tourists against the traditional culture of Bedouins. The local community believes that such influences give negative impacts to their traditional culture and particularly for their children who easily get tempted by the western immoral values.

A Bedhul man living in Petra (Source: Wikimedia)

 

The USAID project in 2014 in Jordan with its strategies.

 

-       Overview of the USAID project in 2014 in Petra

Regarding the USAID’s project in 2014 in Petra, the project seems to focus more on the development of the facilities for tourists for their better experiences in Petra. This includes the establishment of an alternative exit from the Petra archaeological Park to reduce foot traffic along the main path and lessen negative impact on the site and redesigning of Petra visitor centre (USAID 2014, p.22). Of course, the project was successful when it comes to the satisfaction of the tourist’s experience in Petra. Moreover, USAID (2014, p. 99) also successfully launched on “the training on ‘Safe Food Handling and Hygiene, building the capacity of almost 340 restaurant and hotel employees in eight governates around the Kingdom: Amma, Madaba, Dead Sea, Petra, Aqaba, Jerash, Ajiloun and Tafleh.”.

USAID has not only supported the facility improvement of the cultural heritage sites, but also children education. USAID conducted the field trip to Aqaba for 38 youth from Umm Sayhoun village in Wadi Musa, Petra, and the trip left positive impacts to them who are engaged in works like donkey rides, selling souvenirs in Petra. The trip was an excellent opportunity for their awareness of the importance of education which potentially take them to careers in the tourism industry including hotels and restaurants. 

USAID also attempted to promote tourism handicraft sector in Jordan in coordination with Jordan Handcraft Producers and Traders Association (JHPTA) to “produce a map listing all Jordanian handcraft businesses, association and organizations around the country” (USAID 2014, p 62). This guide map helps particularly small local businesses which are not always accessible or well-known (p 62).

 

-       Evaluation of the USAID project in 2014

The USAID performance has fairly given positive impacts on Petra when it particularly comes to the improvement of tourist facilities, giving Petra youths opportunities to aware of the importance of education for the future careers in tourism and marketing of local souvenirs. However, most of their performances in the project tend to be temporary actions, and relatively a little bit more tourists’ centric development of facilities, which I believe it doesn’t seem to be fully sustainable development for the local community. In other words, USAID does not intensely attempt to resolve the real concerns from the local community who are the main tourism service providers in Petra. That is, in my opinion, USAID did not enough their own independent in-depth research and interviews on the local communities. Instead, the organization seems to have more rely on the information comes from the Jordan government in which also the concerns from the local community in Petra are not fully reflected in reducing the negative impacts of tourism in Petra such as children dropping out school, the shrinkage of local handcraft market, overpopulation of Um Sayhoun village and devaluation of local tradition.

First of all, in the respect of the importance of children education, the USAID’s effort giving the potential career in tourism particularly in hotels and restaurants perhaps can be good opportunities for some children; however, as the Globe Post (2014) notes, most of the children working in the heritage site in Petra are well aware of that their uneducated parents make more money than those who have degrees. What is more, this absolutely influences their perception that working in the heritage site can be better off in terms of income gain. In this regard, for myself, it would be more effective and relevant on giving them education on which obtain opportunities to learn some applicable knowledge in their business on the site.

The USAID’s effort in promotion of local handcrafts in Jordan by producing handcrafts guide maps for tourists is another contribution for the marketing of local business of handcrafts in Jordan in broad terms. Nonetheless, I have a quite skeptical viewpoint on the USAID strategy which is focusing on whole handcrafts in Jordan. In other words, if we deal with only the Petra case which has a structural issue to promote local handcrafts in Petra (i.e. the weak competitiveness in price and quality compared to the foreign products), the USAID’s marketing strategy does not seem to have given a huge positive impact on the promotion of handcrafts in Petra.

Moreover, USAID did not shed light on the issues of preservation of the site, the overpopulated village of Bedouls and devaluation of the traditional culture of the local community as a result of tourism in Petra. These issues potentially give negative impacts on the sustainability of tourism by the local community. In my point of view, such issues can be sorted out with more active supports from the Government of Jordan and other international organizations such as UNESCO.

 

Conclusion and Recommendations

There is no doubt USAID’s project in Jordan does have given positive impacts in the tourism development in Jordan. At some extent, Petra as one of the most attractive touristic sites in Jordan has also been given positive impacts in facilities improvement, education and the promotion of handicrafts. However, although USAID has contributed to the reduction of negative impacts of tourism in Petra, it is still hard to admit that USAID’s project fundamentally eradicated all the issues that Petra has as we have been able to identify the current issues of tourism in Petra through the experts such as Shoup (1985), Alhasanat & Hyasat (2011) and Mustafa & Tayeh (2011) that most of them highlight on the tourism development in Petra province and its impact of the local community in Petra. I believe such limitations of the project is attributed from the limitation of time, funding and less complement cooperation between USAID and other agents which including the government of Jordan. Of course, solely focusing on the development of tourism in Petra is unrealistic as there always exists the different levels of priorities in the country for the development; thus, the rest of issues in Petra will be gradually resolved as far as enough financial funding and proper strategies of any kinds of aids are secured. The followings below are my recommendations for the future tourism operators in order to improve and reduce the current issues spotted in Petra. 

-       Education

o   It is significant to let children parents in Petra are aware of the importance of education. As their illiteracy rate is high, education support is also necessary for adults. In the community level, the leader/representative of the local community has to put huge efforts on the partnership with other education organizations to increase the illiteracy rate in Petra. Again, the local parents’ roles are particularly essential to send their children back to school.

o   The present education facilities have to be more modernized to prevent the children’s dropout rate. The poor education facilities and teachers are also two of reasons that children giving up school. So better education facilities are severely needed for students.

o   The government of Jordan has to strictly apply for the policy of primary mandatary education system to the children in Petra. Even if they drop out of school due to their household economic issue, the government has to support their families financially. If the government is not capable of sustaining this system, other organizations have to establish a system which permanently and sustainably operating for the children education in Petra. It is important to provide Petra children more opportunities and reliable beliefs that education can be benefits for them in the future as youths in Petra have a sceptical viewpoint on the current education system which actually make less money their uneducated parents. On top of that, for the smarter children among them, giving them an opportunity to access better education in the bigger cities by securing bursaries/scholarships for their study. In this case, it has to be preconditioned that their household has to be financially sustained without children in active work.

o   On the site of Petra, it is necessary to set up education facilities where locals (of course, anyone in Petra including children, women and men) running their own business in the site are able to learn some business knowledge to improve their current business skills and better customer services for tourists. Additionally, foreign language education and tour guide education has to be systemically applied to the local community in Petra. Bedouins speak several different foreign languages but don’t read and write them. Accordingly, it is necessary to give them proper education in foreign languages and to allow them to provide tourists better tour guides in foreign languages, of course, training some Bedouins as local guides with detail history of the regions are significant.

-       Promotion of local handicrafts in Petra

o   The current issue of the handicrafts market in Petra is that the handcrafts from other countries are monopolizing the souvenir market with cheaper price. Thus, the handcraft market in Petra has to be protected by controlling the influx of foreign products. Besides, the appropriate marketing strategy has to be implemented to make Petra handcrafts to be competent in the handicraft market. In this sense, good storytelling of the region and its history for the uniqueness of the product, the better quality, decent channels of marketing and advertisements through the internet, TV and offline. The promotion of the handcrafts, in fact, needs a lot of government and international support such as building handcrafts research and design centre and workshops were also providing local women with an opportunity to engage in the handcrafts production.

-       Overpopulation of Um Sayhoun village 

o   The role of the government of Jordan is significantly crucial to provide solutions on the overpopulation of Um Sayhoun village. The government has to implement appropriate strategies which would not downgrade the locals’ current lifestyle and economic activities. Otherwise, the relocation project conducted as a result of UNESCO designation in 1985 will come to be in vain as many Bedouins have been wanting to go back to their traditional way of life which living in a cave in Petra.

-       Tourists education for respecting the local traditional culture and the preservation of the archaeological site of Petra

o   As more tourists come to Petra, the local community is more exposed to the western culture which particularly also believed to have some immoral values such as alcohol abuse, indiscreet sexual intercourse. And they believe this devalues their traditional culture. In this way, before visiting Petra, tourists have to get some instructions for their right and discreet behaviours and attitudes which would not devalue the traditional culture of the local community. Also, the preservation education has to be instructed before the start of their tours in Petra.

 

References

1.     Al- Kloub, L. (2018). From Caves to Stone Houses: Is Bedouin Culture Still Thriving in Jordan’s Petra?. The Globe Post. Retrieved from https://theglobepost.com/2018/01/14/jordan-bedouin-cuulture-petra/ (Oct 25, 2019).

2.     Alhasanat, S. A. & Hysat, A. S. (2011) Sociocultural Impacts of Tourism on the Local Community in Petra, Jordan. Jordan Journal of Social Sciences 4(1), pp. 144 – 158.

3.     Ajaka, N. (2014). In Pictures: Jordan tourism threats Bedouin. Aljazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/03/pictures-jordan-tourism-threat-2014325103818139322.html (Oct 21, 2019).

4.     CEIC (2018). Jordan Number of Visitors: Petra. Retrieved from https://www.ceicdata.com/en/jordan/number-of-visitors-by-tourist-sites/number-of-visitors-petra (Oct 18, 2019)

5.     Hejazeen, E. G. (2007) Tourism and Local Communities in Jordan: Perception, Attitudes and Impacts a Case Study on Five Archaeological Tourist Sites München: Tourism Studies. From the University of Eichstatt- Ingolstadt.

6.     Jordan Press Foundation. (2011). 2, 423, 000, 000 JD as Tourism Income during Last year with an Increase of 17 % Compared to 2009, March 4. Retrieved from https://www.alrai.com/print?news_id=380084 (Oct 25, 2019)

7.     Koorling, D. & Simms, S. (1996). The Bedul Bedouin of Petra, Jordan: Tourism and an Uncertain Future. Cultural Suvival Quarterly (19)4. Retrieved from https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/bedul-bedouin-petra-jordan-traditions-tourism-and (Oct 19, 2019).

8.     MOTA (2010). Statistical Bulletin of 2010 published by Department of Statistics in the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. [Online] Available: http://www.tourism.jor/ar/Default.aspx?tabid=120 (Oct 18, 2019)

9.     Mustafa, M. H & Tayeh, S. N (2011). The Impacts of Tourism Development on the Archaeological Site of Petra and Local Communities in Surrounding Villages. Asian Social Science 7(8), pp.88- 96.

10. Shoup, J (1985). The Impact of Tourism on the Bedouin of Petra. Middle East Journal 39(2), pp. 277-291.

11.  USAID (2014). Economic growth through sustainable tourism project. Retrieved from http://bestprojectjo.org/sites/default/files/EGST%20Final%20Report%202014.pdf (Oct 25, 2019).

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[1] In total 38 accommodations are registered in Petra (6 five hotels, 2 stars hotels, 7 three-star hotels, 2 two star hotels, 8 one star hotels, 1 camp and 12 unclassified hotels) (MOTA 2010).

[2] USAID has supported the tourism development of Jordan throughout the three different tourism projects: Siyha Project (2005-2008), The USAID Tourism Development Project II (2008-2013), The 18- month USAID Economic growth Through Sustainable Tourism Project (2013-2014). All these projects are in collaboration with the Government of Jordan (the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities), private sector, local communities and other foreign donors on behalf of the improvement of the competitiveness of tourism in Jordan in the international market which also contribute to boosting the country’s GDP, job creation and the engagement of women and youth in the tourism industry (USAID 2014, p. 12)

[3] In fact, with the designation of Petra as a World Heritage Site in 1985, the Bedoul tribe was forced to live their shelters in the caves, and relocated into the Umm Sayhoun, the village which was built to provide the Bedoul the opportunities of better education and health care (Lubick 2004). However, the relocation also caused the decrease of the Bedoul’s traditional economic activities which is characterized by goat pastoralism, rainfall farming and the cash economy of tourism due to a limited space and high density of population for further expansion which considered to be significant for the Bedoul to sustain their traditional pastoral and agriculture (Koorling & Simmas 1996). Consequently, with the growing population of the Bedoul tribes in the Umm Sayhoun, more of Bedoul gave up their traditional agricultural and pastoral pursuits and engaged into the tourism business in Petra which believed to be the only option available, especially for the younger generation (Koorling and Simmas 1996).