Exploring the Sustainable Behavior and Practices for Public Tourism Organizations: A Case of Jordan

Sustainable Tourism

Collectively, the doctrine of sustainability “can be divided conceptually into three constituents: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and socio-political sustainability” (Barber et al., 2011, p. 6). However, Ruhanen et al. (2015) indicate that since publishing the Brundtland Report in 1987, the concept of sustainable development has received considerable attention from governments, organizations, and academics. In comparison, Mihalic (2016) states that notwithstanding several decades of academic and practical debates on tourism sustainability, its application in practice remains difficult. The prevalent tourism discourse on sustainability (theory, seen as a concept) and responsibility (practice, understood as suitable action) demand a solid understanding of the process of how a responsible destination essentially put into practice a sustainability agenda. Chancellor et al. (2011, p. 867) state that “The idea of sustainable tourism receives a great deal of press even as it is still being debated and defined.”

Elsewhere, Frey and George (2010) reveal that the link between responsible tourism and destination sustainability can be corroborated from responsible tourism’s objectives to reduce adverse economic, social, and environmental effects, while augmenting the positive impacts of tourism development. Consequently, tourism destination management has considerable significance in controlling many effects of tourism, thus assuring its sustainability (Conaghan et al., 2015).

To shift toward a form of tourism consistent with sustainable tourism, there needs to be an improved level of management (Welford & Ytterhus, 2004). According to Jamieson (2006), Destination Management Offices (DMOs) have an essential role in the sustainable management of different tourism destinations. In contrast, Gracie (2010) postulates that uncooperative management could represent an enormous limitation on sustainability practices. In the same vein, sustainable practices like energy savings and waste decrease are intrinsically linked to employee participation (Kim & Choy, 2011). Bohdanowicz (2005) suggests that tourism employees who were proud of their organization’s environmental behaviors were more likely to participate in green initiatives. Goh, Muskat, and Tan (2017) suggest that there are potential impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry, affecting future hospitality employees and leaders. They further conclude that a good knowledge about sustainability will enhance students’ competitive advantage when entering the tourism and hospitality workforce, since sustainability will become a much more perennial topic during recruitment and hiring.

Sustainable Tourism in Jordan

Allan (2014) has reported that the tourism industry has grown clearly in the past decades in Jordan. The number of employees in the tourism sector has reached more than 51.500 in 2018 (MOTA, 2019). Allan and Alkushman (2019) reveal that the Arab Spring has profoundly influenced the tourism industry in Jordan, and such a phenomenon turns out to be a serious and a major challenge for the tourism policymakers. Therefore, tourism bodies and organizations in the country should confront the repercussions of tourism decline and develop their management styles. However, the concept of sustainable tourism and its implementation is considered a new trend due to the lack of studies and research on such phenomena. To achieve more sustainability for the tourism sectors, it is significant to involve all the tourism stakeholders throughout the entire development process, starting with the policymaking and ending with the implementation of all different levels (Maiden, 2008).

Jordan National Tourism Strategy (NTS) 2011–2015 has identified the path for all stakeholders to participate in the tourism development efforts to make a difference and develop the economic, ecosystem, and sociocultural aspects (MOTA, 2011). However, the revenue of tourism businesses did not go to the local community and economy most of the time because of many reasons that may be considered a financial leakage, especially in the hotel industry. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the rate of financial leakage of the tourism revenues for the small economies is 40%–50% and 10%–20% for more advanced economies. This leakage could hurt the environment due to the overuse of the resources and pollution without spending money or effort to repair or rehabilitate this damage; it will also negatively impact the local community. Alzboun et al. (2017) reveal that the main factors behind the financial leakages in the tourism industry in Jordan were the high cost of energy, the need to import products not produced locally, and the lack of awareness of sustainability practices. The main channels of financial leakages were importing furniture and electronics, human resources, and food and beverages not produced in Jordan.

There is a relatively small body of literature concerned with the nature and scope of sustainable tourism practices in Jordan. Therefore, this study’s main purpose is to examine the sustainable practices for a sample of public tourism bodies in Jordan.

Research Themes

During the interviews, the participants were asked seven questions, categorized under five themes, generally concerned with the concept, applications, and promotion strategies of tourism sustainability. The purpose of the interview themes was to measure the awareness of sustainability behavior for the tourism managers in the public sector to enhance their sustainability behavior and promote sustainable practices in the tourism industry in Jordan. This is because of the importance of sustainability for its environmental, economic, and social impacts on community members’ quality of life.

Theme 1: Definition of Sustainability

The first theme aims at measuring the understanding of the concept of sustainability by tourism managers. Thus, the following question has been posed “How do you define the concept of sustainability?”

Four of the participants defined sustainability as “developing the tourism products, promoting tourism and the best exploitation of resources while conserving it for the upcoming generation,” which was the part agreed on by three other participants. A different participant stated that “it is protecting the environmental resources from being destroyed to ensure the variation of production to create different job opportunities in the future.” Two more interviewees define sustainability as “the permanence of a systematic and continuously improving work,” whereas one participant clarified that “conserving the traditional heritage through raising awareness on its importance is a suitable definition of sustainability.” Another participant also defined it as “making long-term plans to enhance tourism and social aspects comprehensively to develop the local community and preserve the permanence of tourism sites.” Accordingly, two participants defined it as “preserving the site and the tourism resources by making security plans to protect the sites and the tourist.”

The participants’ definition of sustainability is mainly in agreement with Swarbrooke definition of sustainability, which suggests that sustainability is “development which meets our needs today without compromising the ability of people in the future to meet their needs” (Swarbrooke, 1999, p. 3). Some other interviewees mentioned a different idea when defining sustainability, which was planning to improve the local community’s quality of life and secure tourists and tourism sites. This gives a slightly different point of view related to the definition of improving as “developing” the social aspects in the locals’ life while taking into consideration the tourist and tourism sites. As mentioned by Swarbrooke, the definition of sustainable tourism is “tourism which is economically viable but does not destroy the resources on which the future of tourism will depend, notably the physical environment and the social fabric of the host community” (Swarbrooke, 1999, p. 3). Additionally, it is noteworthy that these concepts revolve around the United Nations (UN) perspective on sustainable development, which is the management of resources while fulfilling economic, social, and aesthetic needs and preserving cultural integrity, vital ecological practices, biological variety, and life-backing systems (Neto, 2003).

In another perspective, sustainable development could also be concerned with integration (i.e., wide development that benefits the most possible number of sectors, across borders, and even between generations). In other words, the decisions that the present generation makes should take into consideration the possible future impact it could hold elsewhere, whether on the society, the environment, or the economy and even on the upcoming generations (Bayley & Strange, 2008).

Theme 2: Application of Sustainability

The second theme is represented in both the second and third questions, “To what extent does your management apply the notion of sustainability in your organization?” and “What are the main applications of sustainability in your organization?”, respectively. The theme was suggested to collect much information on sustainability in the public tourism sector in Jordan.

Concerning the second question, two of the participants indicated that their organizations have developed comprehensive national plans to raise the awareness of coming generations on the importance of sustainable tourism and preserving it. This is done by building relationships with the Jordan Tour Guides Association, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Tourism Police to spread awareness in 800 targeted schools and link the donors with the community. They further mentioned adding the subject of sustainable development in school curriculums. Furthermore, one interviewee stated that “the management of the organization collaborates with the UNWTO, in addition to having the possibility of sustainability in any upcoming project to develop long terms strategies, thus motivating the local community to participate in forming sustainability policies and apply them.”

Another participant said that management applies sustainability by improving the framework using technology in all its interactions with worldwide organizations. Two different interviewees demonstrated that their management raises awareness of sustainability and prioritizes laws and legislation. One other participant mentioned making plans and organizing workshops to train the employees on applying sustainability. Two more participants revealed that establishing nature reserves to create job opportunities for the locals to increase their income is the way to reach sustainable tourism development. Another participant concluded that “sustainability was well applied by providing tourism services for the investors and the local community.” One of the participants conversed on making a sustainable tourism development plan to reserve the sites’ permanence and find developmental opportunities for the local communities by engaging them in tourism careers, including handicrafts. One more stated that making laws and legislation to organize tourism activities is an application of the notion of sustainability, whereas two mentioned issuing instructions related to providing security for tourists and sites.

Regarding the third question, “What are the main applications of sustainability in your organization?”, one of the participants indicated that the organization works on constructing reliable infrastructure and reducing excavations in the archaeological and tourism attractions, to decrease its maintenance, that due to believing in the future scientific development to preserve these sites for the coming generations. Furthermore, two other participants commented on re-concealing some archaeological objects or sites to preserve them for the upcoming generations. Another interviewee suggested that tourism sites are prepared to attract investments, reflecting benefits on the local community. A different interviewee said that management uses technology to reinforce the concept of sustainability. While one participant mentioned recycling paper as an application for sustainability, two more participants said that the organization worked on establishing nature reserves, which will, in turn, enhance tourism and local community through attracting tourism project investments to the sites, in addition to founding the Royal Academy for Nature Conservation (RANC), which will train and educate the local community to be able to create environmental and adventure tourism projects convenient to the resources to reach sustainable tourism development.

Another participant stated that “establishing marine reserves and limiting and organizing fishing activates, which in return preserves marine life.” Another participant said that the management makes agreements with international organizations concerned with tourism development like United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN Development Programme, concerned with environmental development. One more participant mentioned preparing appropriate environments to enhance sustainable tourism by making comprehensive plans to promote tourism products and tourism development projects in tourism sites to attract more investment opportunities. Two more interviewees reported organizing regular security patrols and checkpoints at tourist sites and coordinating with security officials to protect tourism sites and tourist groups, while one interviewee added cooperating with the different institutions of civil community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that promote the tourism industry, and signing agreements with governmental authorities.

For example, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA) has made a national plan for tourism awareness for 2017–2021. This plan is mainly concerned with enhancing the activities of sustainability and the significance of tourism in the local community through cooperating with the Department of Antiquities, Jordan Tourism Board, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Ministry of Labor, and several private sector partners and international organizations. This plan aims at raising public awareness on the significance of:

the tourism sector for the community and the national income;

The national plan for tourism awareness targets policymakers, students, tourism sector workers, stakeholders, and managers of tourism establishments, the media, and all members of the local community (MOTA, 2017).

For this to happen, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) established Wild Jordan, a nonprofit business branch concerned with protecting natural resources, including wildlife and wild areas, by establishing nature reserves. Wild Jordan also supervises sustainability activities in these reserves and also provides 120 job opportunities, while managing various entrepreneurial opportunities and encouraging the local community members to set up their businesses as an alternative for hunting, which is restricted by law in these areas.

However, while answering the third question, “What are the main applications of sustainability in your organization?” the interviewees provided several ideas; one of them was that the organization constructs reliable infrastructure to prepare the tourism sites to attract better investment opportunities. Another common thought was decreasing the amount of wasted energy on the maintenance of archaeological and tourist attraction sites by reducing the excavation operations and preserving some archaeological objects by re-concealing them.

Similarly, there are no power lines used for lights in Petra to preserve its archaeological value. Some sustainable tourism practices have been developed in Bethany Beyond the Jordan (the baptism of Jesus Christ) site to preserve it because of its vital natural, religious, and historical heritage. These practices include building the entire infrastructure with natural materials like wood to decrease the disturbance of the site and the negative impact of tourism. Also, buses do not reach close to the site to preserve the site from possible negative impacts or damage to the environment and give the tourists a chance to hike through the landscape (Al-Mughrabi, 2007). Using technology and recycling paper was also mentioned as one of the ideas to apply sustainability. Similarly, the RANC was established to train and educate the public to initiate its tourism project to reach sustainable tourism development.

A recycling system for all products in Wadi Rum was developed by the local community to reduce the costs and sustain natural resources. Moreover, to inspire students to think of appropriate solutions for the environment’s problems, the Nature Young Scientists Program was launched. This aimed to teach the students the importance of nature, encouraging them to think of practices to sustain nature. Similar activities were promoted in school clubs for nature conservation that had been formed in public schools since 1989. Their main goal was to include the youth and enhance their role in sustaining the natural environment. Some good examples of these clubs’ activities were writing short stories on sustainability practices, implementing environmental programs such as tree planting, taking advantage of schoolyards, converting them into gardens, and olive gathering (Al-Mughrabi, 2007).

Some mentioned establishing reserves (nature or marine) to preserve flora and fauna as valuable resources for the upcoming generations. In addition, making promotion plans for tourism products and signing agreements with local and international organizations concerned with environmental development.

As an application of the idea on the conservation of marine life, the Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan (JREDS) was founded in 1993 by several responsible individuals concerned with the marine wealth, to protect Aqaba’s marine life from further degradation. The JREDS was registered in August 1995 as the first and only Jordanian nonprofit NGO dedicated to protecting the marine ecosystem. It also works to prevent and limit the damage of the Gulf of Aqaba by promoting sustainable management of natural marine resources, raising the awareness of the community, and monitoring the environment regularly. Over the past decade, 16 projects and initiatives were developed by JREDS, with the support of 250 members, a staff of 14 people, 3 international, and hundreds of local volunteers in Amman and Aqaba (JREDS, 2016).

Finally, the Tourism Police Department regularly checks tourist sites for any security threats by cooperating with all security authorities to protect both the sites and tourists. Therefore, the Tourism Police Department in Jordan takes many security measures to maintain the safety of tourist groups during the tourism tours, some of which monitor all tourism activities and ensure its compliance with laws and legislations, in addition to preventing violations and taking necessary precautions, collaborating with the public and private tourism sectors regarding securing tourism business and sites, coordinating with the Public Security Directorate (PSD), and its various departments to guard the tourists (PSD, 2016).

Theme 3: Sustainability Behavior

The third theme represented in the fourth question, “What are the main sustainability behaviors in your organization?” was aimed at gathering data on the actions used to practice sustainability through its applications.

One of the participants answered that “email should be more used. Before printing the document, the worker is advised to check for mistakes to avoid paper wasting,” which is agreed on by another participant who gave the example of using digital marketing instead of paper-wasting marketing. Another participant said that encouraging employees to participate in the decision-making process is vital to ensure the sustainability implementation in the organization’s management. One more participant mentioned that the behavior used in the management is the reduction of wasting any resource. Furthermore, another interviewee indicated that “turning off all lights and electrical appliances before leaving the building by all employees as the behavior of sustainability.” Two other participants suggested raising the awareness on the importance of archaeological sites as a part of sustainable tourism development.

Furthermore, two other participants clarified that funding or cooperating with funding organizations and linking them with the community to establish small and medium-sized businesses and hiring local workers in tourism sites is a way to enhance their sense of responsibility toward the site. Another participant revealed that park rangers could be established to protect the marine tourism sites in cooperation with the governmental organizations. Moreover, another participant suggested following up with donor organizations and conducting workshops to train the local community on making traditional handicrafts. Another participant revealed that organizing regular tourism trips for media representatives and tourism agents; encouraging and developing different types of tourism to diversify tourism products; and holding tourism activities, festivals, and conferences are methods toward promoting tourism sites’ capabilities and enhance the abilities of the local community. Another participant suggested that it could be significant to conduct training programs for Tourist Police to enhance their skills and qualifications.

There are several operations that public tourism organizations implement that lead to sustainable tourism, one of which is a waste management and energy conservation, which will reduce the levels of pollution. In addition to that, MOTA has initiated awareness campaign for sustainable tourism, targeting the residents of tourism sites. The campaign aims at increasing the awareness of the public on the social and economic benefits of tourism, enhancing the positive behavior through respecting the natural and archaeological tourism sites, and reinforcing the eagerness to work in the tourism field, thus enhancing their sense of belonging (MOTA, 2017).

In order to raise the awareness of tourism students, MOTA has established tourism career exhibitions that include several national and international tourism organizations to offer job opportunities and improve their quality of life. Moreover, due to media’s significant role in the tourism sector, MOTA has conducted many media representative activities, like introductory tourism trips, to further inform them of the different tourism sites (MOTA, 2017).

In the 1950s, the need for a qualified tourism police department emerged due to the increasing number of all types of tourism sites, including religious, natural, cultural locations, and since Jordan enjoys a high level of security, the PSD decided to establish a specialized department focused on maintaining tourism security in Jordan (PSD, 2016).

Theme 4: Obstacles Facing the Development of Sustainable Behavior

The fourth theme represented in the fifth and sixth questions are, “What are the main obstacles facing the development of sustainability practices in your organization?” and “What are the main steps to face these obstacles?” The theme was meant to understand better the obstacles facing sustainability and how those managers deal with them.

Regarding the fifth question, one participant said that there are some financial obstacles to construct infrastructure. In the same vein, another participant suggested that it was difficult to get funding for small and medium-sized tourism businesses. Another participant indicated that “one of the problems is the need for the organization to deal with many other associations in any project, which needs a lot of time and paperwork.” Another interviewee suggested that external circumstances which affect tourism and its organizations are another obstacles. One more participant suggests that applying the information and instructions by the employees is one of the issues. Moreover, another interviewee suggested that there are some in proper behaviour for some employees, whereas one participant mentioned that the difficulty of the transfer of financial allocations to improve and preserve the archaeological and tourism sites to make them more sustainable, in addition to the limitation of human resources, which was a point another interviewee concurred with. Two more participants commented on the difficulty of constructing reliable infrastructure in environmental tourism sites due to its ruggedness and bumpiness, and the difficulty of reaching these sites, in addition to the lack of awareness on the importance of nature tourism sites, and the need for the locals to be efficiently educated and trained.

In contrast, one participant clarified that human behavior and pollution are other obstacles. One participant reported a lack of capable training centers and programs to train the staff in tourism and the short duration of tourists’ visit to these destinations. One more said that the overlapping in tasks between the PSD and the department of tourism in the sites is another obstacle. In comparison, one participant reported a lack of cooperation between the Tourism Police and the local community, and the lack of strict penalties on violators.

In terms of the sixth question, “What are the main steps to face these obstacles?”, one of the participants answered that there were steps taken to attract donors for tourism projects in cooperation with USAID. Another interviewee said that “the organization works with the Jordan tourism committee, a committee with a representative of each ministry, and the Jordan Investment Commission, which includes a representative of all governmental associations.” Another participant suggested that offering effective plans to promote sustainability in tourism to overcome the external impacts on tourism organizations helps overcome different obstacles. One more interviewee postulated reinforcing the participation and the effective dialogue with the employees is considered a helpful step to confront the obstacles. Whilst another participant said that encouraging the sustainable practices and behavior for the employees is critical for ensuring the sustainable management. One interviewee conversed on re-concealing archaeological sites when having enough budget to excavate it and present it to the public, in addition to coming up with a new law for archaeological sites that allow services to be available in these sites and leaving 5%–10% of the revenue of the site mainly for conservation purposes, which was concurred by another participant. Two more participants reported cooperating and making comprehensive plans with the governmental organization to prepare the sites and train the local workers through the RANC to create more job opportunities and encourage them to participate in the decision-making process. One interviewee commented on organizing workshops to raise awareness of marine life’s importance for tourism in Jordan.

Moreover, another participant said that conducting workshops to train tourism employees and the local community, making tourism programs and activities for tourists to ensure their longest duration of visits to the country is a solution, in addition to making plans to attract considerable numbers of domestic and international tourists—a point another interviewee concurred with. Another participant clarified that coordination with governmental organizations regarding tourism activities and specifying tasks for each governmental security department are ways to avoid overlapping responsibilities. Another participant asserted on cooperation with the authorities to control violations and to raise the awareness of the local community toward the importance of the tourist’s security and the tourism establishments.

Theme 5: Promotion of Sustainable Behavior and Practices in your Organization

This theme represented in the seventh question, “How can you promote sustainable practices and behaviors in your organization?”, aimed at determining how to enhance the practices of sustainability and its behaviors in all previously mentioned tourism organizations.

Hence, one participant indicated that promoting sustainable practices and behaviors could be achieved through the legislation of tourism sustainability–related laws and the implementation of sustainability in all tourism destinations and projects like conducting cultural activities that conserve tourism sites. Another interviewee answered that “reinforcing a sense of belonging and social responsibility for the workers through providing them with all kinds of incentives to apply sustainability practices” —a point that three other participants agreed upon, in addition to spreading success stories between employees to prove that sustainability can be achieved. One more interviewee said that encouraging the employees to participate in the decision-making process would constantly improve employees in the organization. Another participant revealed that enhancing tourism products is a way to preserve it and make it more sustainable. Four more participants suggested raising the awareness on the promotion of sustainability, importance of environmental and nature reserves, and supporting small and medium-sized businesses to achieve sustainability and pleasing the local community by providing job opportunities—suggested by only one participant. One participant suggested following up on archaeological sites’ maintenance, giving required work permits for tourism industry projects, and encouraging handicrafts and tourism products. One participant also mentioned that working on providing 24 hours security patrols to enhance the security of tourism sites and preventing all kinds of violations are another way to promote sustainable conduct.

Furthermore, the soil or water pollution of should be prohibited through developing the existed laws and legislation, and waste disposal systems should be developed. Developing a recycling system, therefore the waste will be reduced even further (UNCSD NGO Steering Committee, 1999). There were some obstacles in terms of limitation of well-trained human resources due to a lack of training centers, some employees’ behavior, and delivering the information on sustainability applications in a clear way for them.

While the tourism industry has an increasingly improving vocational training system, in difficult economic times, such training tend to be discarded. In addition, most training modules are generally related to the field of the person’s current job and not the potential one that person can acquire in the future; thus, the staff rarely develop new skills. Considering that most of the tourism staffs have not had ongoing training, a lack of awareness of the importance of constantly training and learning is a weakness. Moreover, there is often a wide gap between the tourism industry and educational institutions, which further reduces the chances of training and personal development opportunities for the employees (Swarbrooke, 1999).

Many environmental problems emerge from the tourism industry itself. For example, the tourism sector will often increase stress on local resources, or the flow of tourists to the area might lead to a competition for the amount of available resources, which will lead to inevitable pollution. Moreover, a lack of awareness of the sustainable usages of natural resources by investors is quite possible, which, in return, leads to the deprivation of resources. Additionally, in most developing countries, rarely does waste disposal get effectively managed or planned, especially since tourism is considered a major waste generator. Lastly, large amounts of emissions emanating from tourism transport cause considerable damage to the environment, mostly with no sign of investors’ willingness to reduce these emissions (UNCSD NGO Steering Committee, 1999).

In addition, there was a mentioning that there is no actual application for sanctions for any violations which could be considered another obstacle facing the tourism organizations, as well as the absence of coordination between the local community and the Tourism Police. Any possible annoyances to the tourist or tourism sites must be considered a threat to tourism and the economy. Hence, crime, public disorders, political unrest, and terrorism are critical to the tourism industry and demand prompt intervention. Therefore, it is vital to have efficient law enforcement to prevent any possible violation that will negatively impact the tourism sector (Mawby, 2014).

Conversely, when discussing the sixth question, “What are the main steps to face these obstacles?”, all participants mentioned appropriate solutions for the obstacles facing their organizations. Some interviewees suggested locating capable donors to finance tourism projects, postponing the excavations of some archaeological sites for budget-saving purposes, and saving 5%–10% of tourism site revenues for its maintenance.

Likewise, conducting meetings between government representatives through specialized committees for effective plans to decrease the external impacts on the tourism industry, attract domestic and international tourists by scheduling a variety of tourism activities to increase their visit duration, and preparing well the sites for tourism services by making laws and legislations were discussed as steps taken to overcome the obstacles. Some participants suggested identifying the roles of governmental tourism associations like Tourism Police to prevent the overlapping duties and supporting the local security authorities to minimize possible violations.

It was indicated that for the national plan for tourism awareness to achieve the best possible outcomes, there must be solid cooperation between all partners working in such project, including MOTA, Ministry of Internal Affairs, tourism associations, NGOs and donors, local communities, and others (MOTA, 2017). Also, providing appropriate training for the locals and facilitating their participation in the decision-making process will raise their sense of responsibility toward tourism sites and apply sustainable tourism practices.

A specialized training academy for protecting nature and sustainable tourism development was inaugurated in 2015 adjacent to Ajloun Forest Reserve. The RANC is the first of its kind in the Arab world, which is specialized in providing training on nature conservation and sustainability. In order to use actual tourism facilities to simulate realistic situations, the academy is directly linked with the Forest Reserve. The programs include different activities, such as training for ecology, nature, and adventure guides; eco-lodge management; practices of sustainable tourism; and landscape and nature conservation and local community development. The RANC has decided to develop a curriculum of main training areas, in accordance with international standards, with the cooperation from other Jordanian and international institutions. One of the expected outcomes is training a minimum of 100 people each year, to meet market demands in sustainable tourism and environmental tourism fields, including ecology and nature guiding, ranger services, eco-lodge management, environmental good practice, etc. The reason behind avoiding acceptance of a large number of students each year is ensuring the quality of training. Hence, the training approach will be intense with the highest quality of candidates being trained and prepared for the tourism market (RSCN, 2015).

To enhance the positive image of the tourism sector, a nationwide awareness campaign will be launched in several stages. This campaign will mostly focus on the importance of tourism in general, and its revenues specifically. This will be achieved through a number of activities such as meetings, training workshops, advertising campaigns, and publishing printed advertisements to achieve significant impact (MOTA, 2017).

Two of the major public sector influences on sustainable tourism are funding and fiscal incentives and legislations and regulations, by improving such laws that are directly related to sustainable tourism as the working conditions, wages, and rights of tourism sector employees; social and cultural impact of tourism; as well as the behavior of tourists and tourism industry employees. Moreover, employees should be encouraged to contribute their own ideas based on their specific areas of expertise because they all should have the potential to take part in any decision-making process (Fischhoff, 2017).

There are several impacts that the public sector has on tourism at the financial level to make it more sustainable. One of them is providing grants, interest-free loans, and other fiscal incentives for sustainable tourism projects; the other includes charging extra taxes on none-sustainable conducts like using private cars to take tourism trips, in addition to introducing tourist taxes with revenues directly and specifically dedicated to making tourism more sustainable at the destinations (Swarbrooke, 1999).

The success of sustainability relies heavily on the role of the community, especially for companies with an important local impact, like those engaged in manufacturing or resource extraction (Fischhoff, 2017). There are five identified global forces that drive the tourism industry, one of which is safety and security. People’s concern with safety and security is continuously increasing, especially as the number of violent incidents around the world also rises (Chiang, 2000). However, matters are much more complicated since tourism security does not only deal with criminal behavior. Tourism authorities must also deal with individuals or groups that take advantage of tourists and visitors. Thus, visitors are not only under a threat of illegal acts but also acts that are considered to be immoral and may destroy the reputation of the local community and country (Tarlow, 2014).