Development of religious tourism associated with Christian pilgrimage

Over the past centuries, Jordan has witnessed events that have important implications in the history of Christianity, which made several sites in Jordan a destination for pilgrimage, as the Kingdom abounds with holy and historical sites associated with Christian pilgrimage. The Kingdom has emerged as a destination for religious tourism in the region, whereby paying attention to religious tourism makes it a source of touristic attraction, and doubles the tourism revenues.

In 2030, the world is scheduled to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the baptism of Lord Jesus Christ, which requires serious and planned preparation. What is of prime importance is that cooperation must serve as a means of preparation for this anniversary, as it is the significant jubilee of the baptism of Lord Jesus Christ, at a time when the Kingdom must seize this opportunity to develop religious tourism linked to Christian pilgrimage, with hopes that the number of pilgrims will be nearly five million in 2030.

In this context, Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader, director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Jordan, said that the launching of the silver jubilee of the Baptism Site is a beautiful and expressive event whereby since the year 2000, pilgrimage to this unique place has not stopped, but rather it proceeded step by step towards modernization and preparing the atmosphere to receive pilgrims. Over the past years and decades, Jordan was able to transform this area into a holy one that  unveils Jordan's holy history in its capacity as the country of baptism, where prayers are offered annually for the perpetuation of Jordan's stability, and for the attainment of peace in the entire world.

Fr. Bader added that this jubilee coincides with the church that we referred to as cathedral, or rather the new great citadel. It is a global Jordanian depiction that was highlighted in the past few days following the inauguration which marked the participation of His Majesty King Abdullah II’s representative, His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi Ibn Muhammad, as well as representative of His Holiness Pope Francis Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who celebrated Holy Mass, as he is the highest-ranking diplomatic figure in the Vatican after His Holiness the Pope. This is a responsibility and an impetus for Jordanian tourism. It is a double boost whereby in the first place it is a boost for the next five years so that we can celebrate in 2030 the 2,000th anniversary of the baptism of Lord Jesus Christ here. This is confirmed by a church built on the bank of the  Jordan River because Lord Christ was neither baptized in another river, nor did He choose any other country to baptize in, but rather chose our beloved Jordan, and chose the river that bears the name of our country, the Jordan River. When the political situation in the region stabilizes, when the war machine--especially on our people in Gaza--stops, then there will be great opportunities in the offing for breathing a new life in religious tourism especially in the wake of the two major events, namely the launching of “Jordan the Dawn of Christianity” exhibition in the Vatican--which I believe is the first time for Jordan or an Arab country to do so--and secondly the inauguration of the grand church at the Baptism Site.

Fr. Bader pointed out that this year is the Jubilee Year marking the 2025th anniversary of the birth of Lord Jesus Christ, thus we can receive pilgrims in various Christian religious sites so that the visitors can obtain the spiritual forgiveness of sins, which is the most important thing, as well as praying for peace and tranquility in their respective  countries.

He added that there are five main sites for pilgrimage in the Kingdom, but this does not prevent other places from being available for visiting. Even last year, we opened a section of Petra with the Petra commissioner so as to integrate it with Christian religious tourism, because there are there ancient churches, Furthermore, Umm Al-Jimal was also added to the World Heritage List. It is a city that was once full of churches, as there have been 15 churches in Umm Al-Jimal during the 5th, 6th, 7th, and even 8th centuries after the advent of Islam. Therefore, we cannot confine the Christian landmarks in our country, but we need as we have been hoping for this for years to have a map for Christian pilgrimage sites in our country.  There are specific maps that were marked, yet neither Jordan nor the pilgrims coming to Jordan have adopted a single framework nor and a single pilgrimage trip, nor even a single roadmap for pilgrimage. Perhaps we have to strive, during these five remaining years preceding Jordan’s celebration of the grand jubilee, to have a clear plan and a clear pilgrimage path to be adopted by all the tourist groups that come to our country.  

He continued that religious tourism needs several factors, among which is availing competent tourist guides. When we say that we are looking for competence, this implies to forward ideas. First, the language spoken by the tourist guide is very important. The tourist must master the language he speaks in front of the people coming from any country, including English, French, Spanish, and Italian. These languages ​​are very important in order to welcome our visitors as I believe that our embassies can provide grants in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism to have guides travel to countries around the world so that they can learn the languages in their original forms. Secondly, the narrative or history that the tourist guides relate must of course be an enjoyable one, implying the beautiful style that the guides enjoy. The third point deals with the content. The content must be historically and perfectly correct with valid dates that the visitors are looking for. For example, when a visitor or a group of Christians comes from France or Italy, they know who Lord Jesus Christ is, and they know who the Virgin Mary is. We must not waste time just giving them a briefing about Lord Jesus and Blessed Mary for they know that, but they need historical explanations. They also need spiritual pastoral explanation by the local church, or by the church that sends them. We also need more ecclesiastical cooperation between the Jordanian churches and the tourist authorities so that the content may be clear and explicit, and so that there will be some participation between the tourists and the local church, because according to Christian tradition, every person who visits a country becomes part of the local Christian community, but this requires building bridges of communication between the churches and the world.