São Paulo – Jordan, an Arab country in the Middle East, is working to become a leading country in serving hearing and speech impaired tourists. From January to March this year, twelve guides and six tourist policemen took a sign language course organized by the Jordanian Tourism Board. “The aim is to increase the number of tourists in Jordan and provide a good infrastructure for hearing-impaired people,” said Ruba Shahzada, the Human Resource manager at the Jordanian Tourism Board.
The guides and policemen learned to communicate in Arabic sign language, but according to information given to the guides by Shahzada, hearing impaired people from the world over can understand each other no matter the sign language they use. In Brazil, for instance, the Libras sign language is used. Jordan’s Tourism Board also intends to make advertisement pieces, including a movie, in the sign language used in the United States.
According to Shahzada, the course was the first to be developed in tourism in the Middle East, and all of the guides and policemen trained are part of the Jordanian Tourist Guides Association. At the professionals’ graduation ceremony, the Jordanian minister of Tourism and Antiques, Nayef Al Fayez, stated that the country intends to work in partnership with international associations focusing on this type of tourism, so as to bring larger numbers of these visitors to Jordan.
In addition to the group which graduated, another 12 tourist guides and six tourist policemen are being trained. The course includes basic lessons in sign alphabet, other useful signs for communicating with the hearing and speech impaired, and lessons on how Jordan’s history and tourist attractions can be explained to people with special needs. The training was carried out in cooperation with the Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein Club for the Deaf and Mute and the Jordan Applied University College for Hospitality and Tourism Education.
In Jordan, the city of Petra, dug in stone more than 1,000 years ago, is one of the leading attractions for tourists. However, the country is home to several other attractions, such as the Wadi Rum desert, whose castles can be explored by visitors, or the Dead Sea, where they can bathe. There are also horse rides, safaris in 4×4 vehicles, climbing, tours, spas and luxury hotels.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
