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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS -Travel and tourism agents will be able to access some $30 million worth of bonds held with banks and other financing entities, under a new defense order issued Monday.

Defense Order 13, issued under the 1992 Defense Law which the government invoked in March, is intended to provide a lifeline to the tourism industry battered by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the same context, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Majd Shweikeh announced a set of measures to shore up the tourism and travel sectors against the ramifications of the crisis.

She revealed that tourism and travel agents will have access to JD150 million worth of facilities provided under a Central Bank of Jordan cash advance scheme and the National Program for Financing and Loan Guarantee.

The tranche will be used to finance payrolls and operating expenses of hotels and other tourist facilities, according to the minister.

She also announced that tourist and travel entities are now allowed to pay the 2019 income tax on incremental installments during the July-December 2020 period.

Furthermore, the sales tax on services provided by hotels and tourist-classified restaurants is now reduced to 8 percent instead of 16 percent. The reduction excludes the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, where the tax currently stands at 7 percent, Shweikeh revealed.

The service charge levied by these entities is also cut down to 5 percent from 10 percent effective as of July 1st.

Additionally, licensed oriental antiques shops can now utilize a JD3-million tourist guide soft lending program under the guarantee of the Jordan Tourism Board.

The minister said that an additional umbrella will be made available to protect those who work in the tourism domain and ensure job stability. She explained that the umbrella will help tourism entities to meet their financial obligations towards their Jordanian employees.

The package also focuses on domestic tourism schemes and the "Our Jordan is paradise, our Jordan is fine" program. According to Shweikeh, this will include supporting the local airlines Royal Jordanian, Fly Jordan and Jordan Aviation by earmarking about JD1 million to operate daily flights between Amman and Aqaba. The minister indicated that the round-trip ticket will cost less than JD40.

Moreover, the minister said tourist transport firms that are willing to join the "Our Jordan is paradise, our Jordan is fine" program will be able to access JD3 million in financial support to provide tourist-class free transport services to all destinations.

She said the details of this initiative will be announced by the Jordan Tourism Board in the next few days.

With regard to tourism service providers who are already listed on the "Our Jordan is paradise, our Jordan is fine" program in the governorates will be supported with JD1.2 million to spur sales.

Hotels and tourism camps in the Petra region will be allocated a total of 25,000 overnight stays on the agenda of the "Our Jordan is paradise, our Jordan is fine" program.