In cooperation with the French Embassy in Amman, the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, and the Faculty of Arts at YU organized a workshop entitled: “Tour Guides: Occupational Standards and Professionalism.”

In his opening speech, the dean of the Faculty of Tourism, Dr. Mohammed Al-Shunnaq stressed the importance of tourism industry and the role of the tourist guide that connects the local community with the touristic site and tourists.  Dr. Al-Shunnaq added that the tour guide presents the true cultural image of Jordan, and that, in turn, enhances the tourists’ confidence in Jordan and encourages them to visit the different touristic sites.

Al-Shunnaq said that the workshop is academic and focuses on exchanging ideas and experiences among scholars, tour guides and tourism professionals through the papers they present. At the end of his speech, Al-Shunnaq expressed his sincere thanks to the university administration and to the organizing committee of the workshop.

For his part, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dr. Mohammad Bani Doomi, described the tourism sector as one of the most important sectors in Jordan, that promotes and supports the national economy. He stressed the importance of the tour guide and the importance of conducting research, which contributes to solving problems that face the tourism sector in Jordan.

Mr. Mohammed Al Hammad from the Jordan Tour Guides Association (JTGA) commended YU for their role in teaching tourism at the Faculty of Tourism by the distinguished faculty members. He also commended the role of the Department of Modern Languages that teaches French, which contributes in increasing the number of tourist guides who speak French, noting that the number of French-speaking tourist guides is 200 out of 1200 .

The workshop included a scientific session on various topics related to tourism as well as a roundtable, in which participants discussed the professional standards of the tourist guide, how to improve them, and how to improve the working conditions of tourist guides.