Arnie Weissmann
We live in anxious times. The presidential candidates from the two established political parties both predict apocalyptic outcomes if they lose. There are two ongoing wars that induce angst among Americans, often for polar opposite reasons, about our tangential involvement in each. Anxiety is particularly high among our young, whose fascination with, and addiction to, social media is a major contributor to their unease.
And call me a species-ist, but I think "climate change" could reasonably be redubbed "climate crisis."
The pandemic and the subsequent boom in travel has been ascribed to pent-up demand or revenge travel, but I think tourism has moved into a phase where it is viewed as one of the few activities that distracts us for more than a few moments from the problems of the world. The escapist nature of a vacation has become a type of long-form relief from the earsplitting discordance of worrying events.
So given all that, can I sell you on a trip to the Middle East?
Travel to Israel, while still far below normal levels, has rebounded somewhat, owing to "solidarity tourism." But for those who are not traveling to express support for one side or the other in the Gaza war -- and who may, in fact, be looking for the benefits of travel in the most traditional sense -- this may be an excellent time to visit Jordan.
As has happened to countries time and again, being adjacent to troubled areas can practically wipe out their tourism economy for a period. This is the current state of affairs in Jordan.
So to demonstrate its stability, the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), in partnership with Tourism Cares and the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), invited a small group to visit in February. When they returned, I was asked to moderate a webinar to discuss what the group experienced.
Shannon Stowell, the CEO of the ATTA, admitted to feeling trepidation before going, though not for the reasons one might expect. "It wasn't lost on me that our government had made some moves in the region that could cause resentment," he said. He was worried about how he would be perceived as an American.
What he found was that Jordanians "were incredibly warm and kind. I came away absolutely convinced this was the right time to be there."
Petra, Jordan's best-known attraction, "wasn't empty, but was almost empty," he said. For these and other reasons, he added later in the conversation, "you should go now. Now is the time."
Bruce Parkinson, senior editor for TravelPulse Canada, said, "Honestly, you would not know that a war was going on 150 kilometers away. No heavy police or army presence, none of that. This was a great example about how distance is relative."
Attorney Chunnie Wright said she went after completing due diligence on the trip's safety, and her research underscored "the importance of not operating from the place of fear but from the place of fact." Her fellow ATTA board member Kimberly Daley said she felt safer in Jordan than she does at home in Los Angeles.
Six years ago, Tourism Cares CEO Greg Takehara's organization had, with the JTB, created a "meaningful map" of the country that highlights local social enterprises that are both attractive to visitors and provide income to residents. Among them are initiatives that benefit refugees and orphans who entered adulthood with significant societal disadvantages.
The map has made an impact: The JTB attributes the lengthening of group travel by an average of one day to the development of the map. On this recent visit, Takehara visited groups that were already on the map to see how they were getting along as well as stopping at potential candidates to add to the map.
And freelance journalist Yulia Denisyuk may have spoken directly to the way that travel is an antidote to anxious times when talking about her experience in Wadi Rum, meeting with members of the Bedouin community. Travel to Jordan now, she said, is a "beautiful way for all of us to increase our collective understanding about each other, which is so important right now."
At the South by Southwest festival this year, in addition to moderating a panel on community-based tourism, I attended other sessions, including one by comedian Conan O'Brien talking about his upcoming travel series on Max, "Conan O'Brien Must Go." While most of his remarks were humorous, he became serious toward the end: "The best thing about travel is you become someone else. You change your surroundings, you completely shed your skin and become a different person. Going someplace else ... is a beautiful thing."
Indeed. The type of escape from worldly cares that comes through travel can take different shapes, from pure escapism and relaxation to, as O'Brien suggests, becoming renewed through exposure to a different culture. In many ways, Jordanian culture has been shaped by the tough neighborhood it lives in. Americans from across our anxious divides could benefit from exposure to the balance and stability that Jordanians project.