After a two-year slowdown, tourism is once again booming in the Middle East. As countries lift their Covid-19 restrictions and demand for return tickets, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) projects that the sector’s contribution to regional GDP will grow more than 36% in 2022, to more than US$256 billion.
While this is undoubtedly great news for countries where tourism accounts for a large share of revenue, there’s an existential threat to this tourism rebound: climate change. The countries most dependent on tourism are also the very locations most affected by the changing weather.
In Jordan, where tourism is one of the top earners of foreign currency and the second-largest private-sector employer,…
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