9-Ecotourism at the Dana Reserve-Jordan

ECO-TOURISM AT THE DANA RESERVE—JORDAN

ECO-TOURISM AT THE DANA RESERVE1

Dana, Jordan hris Johnson looked through his agenda for the week – it was only Sunday morning and already the workweek was full. As an English expatriate

long residing in Jordan and, for the past decade, the Director of Wild Jordan – the business arm of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) – Chris was part of the executive team overseeing six nature reserves in Jordan and their staffs, along with a myriad of marketing duties. He was accustomed to a full calendar, but the past year had been so busy it was a blur. The new Feynan Lodge at the lower end of the Dana Reserve was scheduled to open at the end of the month and the list of things to do seemed to grow longer every day. Engineers were scheduled to repair the solar hot water heater, quotes were still coming in for washing machines, the kitchen still had to be outfitted, the bedding had yet to be delivered and an executive chef had not yet been hired. Earlier this morning, Chris had received a phone call about a new problem: herds of goats were eating the cane seats off of the chairs on the Lodge’s terrace. Beyond that, the RSCN had not yet settled on a marketing and pricing strategy for the new Lodge. Neither had RSCN developed a strategy for marketing the reserve’s existing two eco-tourism operations in conjunction with the new facility. Chris lifted his agenda and glanced over the latest budget numbers sent over by the Finance Department. He was unsure if the remaining funds for the Feynan start-up were sufficient and he wondered what other funds to re-allocate to the remaining task. He knew he would have to make a strong argument when he asked Wild Jordan staff to cut back on their favorite line items in the budget. Chris planned to meet with the on-site Dana Reserve Manager, Mohammed Qawaba, later in the week to discuss many of these issues. Chris had first come to Jordan as a World Bank consultant 15 years ago. Since then he had settled in Amman, raised a family, developed deep ties to the area and become one of RSCN’s most noted leaders. He was credited for much of the institutional strengthening that brought RSCN international acclaim as an institution. But

now, with his family resettled back in England, he considered for the first time in many years the prospect of returning to his home country. Leaving the Dana eco-tourism operation in working order with a successful prospective future was one of the last projects he hoped to accomplish as Director of Wild Jordan. The new Feynan Lodge had been constructed with funding from USAID.2 The lodge was meant to be an economically self-sustaining eco-tourism lodge after its opening, but projected staffing and operational costs were daunting. Just as daunting was the data on regional tourism. Chris knew that the new Feynan Lodge, like other RSCN eco-tourism ventures, was heavily dependent on the vagaries of the international tourism market and the fluctuations that regional geopolitical conflict inflicted on the local economy. The economic success of the lodge and RSCN’s other eco-tourism operations were far from certain.

RSCN Background The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature was a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of natural spaces and natural resources in Jordan. The Society had a unique, hybrid organizational structure. RSCN was partly (a) a state-mandated protection agency – issuing hunting licenses, monitoring national reserve land use (prohibiting livestock grazing, hunting), (b) a member-based conservation nonprofit – conducting research and issuing publications on the region’s natural resources, and (c) a business unit – focusing on eco-tourism and artesania production as means of affecting natural resource protection. The organization was founded as a national institution under the royal mandate of the late King Hussein. However, RSCN faced the challenge of reconciling and adapting traditional, largely Muslim values of the government and employees with the regional and international exposure the organization received. RSCN

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was the recipient of substantial donor funding from international aid organizations and it had non-Jordanian nationals in key positions of executive leadership and research. Many of the Society’s rangers had been trained and developed via exchange opportunities at parks and reserves in the United States and Africa. These disparate influences created an internal culture that conflicted at times. Some debates were ongoing:

• What level of food and beverage service should eco-tourism operations provide to foreign and national tourists during the month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast during daylight hours? What should lodges charge for the reduced meal service during the period?

• What level of service and safety can guides

fasting during Ramadan reliably provide to hikers?

• Should RSCN’s restaurant in Amman – the Wild

Jordan café – serve wine and beer? RSCN’s board of directors and the restaurateur group hired to manage the café agreed that alcohol service would increase receipts, table occupancy and profits, but many of the RSCN staff were observant Muslims who did not drink alcohol. These individuals were apprehensive and offended that their organization might act in violation of Muslim norms.

• Should RSCN lodges and campsites allow

unmarried men and women to stay in the same accommodations? In Jordan, it was illegal for a Jordanian woman to stay in the same hotel room with a man who was not her husband. How should RSCN’s tourism managers apply this rule to national visitors? International visitors?

RSCN faced other, less culturally oriented but equally pressing challenges. Finding and retaining skilled staff, and finding and renewing adequate funding, were perennial struggles. In addition, the organization repeatedly re-negotiated land use issues with the cash strapped, natural resource poor Jordanian government that granted RSCN managerial control of national reserve lands. Damns had been proposed and erected on Reserve rivers over the objections of the organization, and copper mining had been proposed but averted in the interior of the Reserve. For RSCN, proposing alternate ‘eco-friendly’ ways to generate income, and proving that those businesses could be more profitable than resource extraction, was crucial to the future protection of Jordan’s reserve areas.

Tourism in Jordan Tourism formed an important part of the Jordanian economy – some 7% of GDP.3 The country welcomed some 1.5 million tourists a year. Both the government and the private sector recognized the importance of tourism to the country’s future economic growth. However, serious impediments stood in the way. For a map of the country, see Exhibit 1. The Jordan Tourism Board recently concluded that Jordan had the worst air access prices of any of its competitive set (including the countries of the Levant: Lebanon, Israel and Egypt). High airfare costs, a major barrier to tourism growth, could only be changed with a concerted opening to new airline competition and increase in demand. The ‘CNN Factor’ limited potential arrivals perhaps even more than airfare expense. Jordan, at the crossroads of several world conflicts, was often identified in Europe and the Americas as an unsafe destination. In reality, however, Jordan had extremely low rates of crime and women travelers were almost universally free from harassment. The Jordanian people were perceived by travel agents and tour operators as the most ‘welcoming and friendly’ of the regional competitive set.4 Maintaining and communicating those advantages posed an enormous challenge to Jordan on many levels. Finally, the development of Jordan’s tourism industry had been limited relative to the region because of high barriers to entry. High capital requirements, minimum levels of investment, minimum cash deposits and bureaucratic red tape limited foreign and domestic investment. International tourists arriving in Jordan fell into two broad categories – Gulf visitors seeking cooler weather during their summer holidays, and other international visitors. Two of the country’s most noted attractions are heritage-related and archeology-based – the Roman city of Jerash and the Nabatean city of Petra. Two other leading attractions tapped those seeking adventure and eco-tourism – the desert scape of Wadi Rum (about an hour west of Dana) and the coral reefs off Aqaba’s beaches in the south. Expanded tourism arrival data and numbers of visitors to the country’s peak tourist spots appear in Exhibit 2 and Exhibit 3.

Eco-tourism in the Dana Reserve The Dana Reserve consisted of 400 square kilometers of reserve land bridging the Jordan rift valley. RSCN had managed the area since 1989, though it was not formally declared a reserve until 1993. The reserve was known for its exceptional beauty, bird watching, hiking, and archeological sites. It already had two eco-tourism operations, the Rummana Campsite and the Dana Guesthouse, pictured in Exhibit 4. Feynan would be the third. All three were managed and staffed by RSCN.

PORTRAITS of BUSINESS PRACTICES in EMERGING MARKETS 4-2


The first of these eco-tourism operations, the Rummana Campsite, was opened in 1994. It offered ‘camping lite’ with 19 permanent platforms and tents, a kitchen and chef, and permanent bathrooms. The campsite drew anywhere from 2,000 to 9,000 visitors per year, principally from Jordan and Europe. See Exhibit 5 for more visitor information. The campsite offered a medium/accessible price product and was seen as a tenable weekend getaway for many Jordanians and international expatriates living in Jordan. Exhibit 6 shows a complete fee schedule for the reserve.5 The site was also popular among regional day visitors as a barbecue and picnic site. It did not cater to budget backpackers. Reserve management and the RSCN Marketing department identified several customer segments and sub-segments as principal users. Identified market niches are shown in Exhibit 7. The second eco-tourism operation was the Dana Guesthouse. Opened in 1996, it was situated at the base of the ancient Dana village. The Guesthouse had originally been designed and constructed as a research station, but somewhat inadvertently, RSCN found itself in possession of a beautifully designed building from one of Jordan’s up-and-coming architects. The organization quickly realized the building’s potential, relegated the research teams to less exalted accommodations, and turned the Guesthouse into an eco-tourism lodge. By 2005, both as a casualty of the building’s mixed purpose and origins, and nine years of wear and tear, the Guesthouse was in need of a complete renovation. The heating fuel tanks leaked, communal bathrooms served most of the bedrooms, and linens, furnishings and décor were dated. Renovation costs were estimated at 30,000JD. Chris planned to seek outside funding to subsidize the project but as yet had not been able to devote the time and energy to write a proposal seeking funds. In conjunction with the needed renovations, RSCN was also considering enlarging the nine-bedroom Guesthouse, an endeavor that might require an additional 200,000JD. The Guesthouse’s real treasure, and what drew visitors despite the building’s flaws, was its elegant location adjacent to the picturesque Dana village at the top of the Dana valley. Each of its nine bedrooms and the lodge living room had a western-facing terrace – from which visitors could watch birds soaring in the valley below, the receding ridges of mountains and magnificent sunsets. The attached Dana Center also offered a meeting retreat site – with presentation rooms and digital projectors. A visitor history is shown in Exhibit 8. The Guesthouse was priced at a ‘middle-stretch’ point so it drew primarily tour groups and European visitors. It was seen as somewhat expensive for locals but acceptable for relatively affluent Jordanians. A complete fee schedule is shown in Exhibit 9.

Reserve management and RSCN Marketing identified several customer segments and sub-segments as the principal users of the Guesthouse. Identified market niches are shown in Exhibit 10. The third eco-tourism operation was the as yet unopened Feynan Lodge. The Lodge was unique among the three, and distinctive in all of Jordan. The design of the Lodge was artful and modern yet reminiscent of an ancient caravanserai (an inn where caravans traditionally rested at night). The architecture and design of the building was inspired by Yemeni desert architecture, and the Lodge was partly furnished with antiques. Further distinguishing the building was its design as an eco-friendly, electricity-free getaway – the few light bulbs installed were powered by solar panels. Hot water heaters were solar powered. The halls, rooms, and terraces were lit with candles in mirrored recesses and custom fitted candelabras. Staying in the lodge was meant to evoke the feeling of an ancient desert camel caravan stopover, with a bit of luxury thrown in. Everyone agreed that the ‘atmospheric’ experience the lodge planned to offer was truly exceptional. For the new Feynan Lodge, RSCN had a different pricing strategy in mind. The Lodge was singular in design and experience and a high service standard was envisaged, though yet to be implemented. All 26 rooms offered in-suite bathrooms. About half the rooms had balconies. Bedouin music performances in the Lodge’s interior terraces were planned. RSCN wanted to price the Lodge at a ‘high exclusive’ price point. Initial feedback from tour operators indicated that customers would visit the new lodge at even higher prices. A proposed fee schedule for the Feynan Lodge is shown in Exhibit 11.

Labor Issues & Community Issues in Feynan The new Lodge posed managerial problems that had not been fully resolved. Both by dint of RSCN’s mission-driven philosophy of supporting local socio-economic development, and by constraints on labor availability, the Feynan Lodge was staffed almost entirely by individuals from the nearest town, Rashadiya. The inhabitants of Rashadiya were recently settled Bedouins whose life-style centered primarily around goat and sheep herding. Most Lodge employees were working 9-to-5 jobs for the first time in their lives. The Rashadiya village was remote, isolated and insular, and finding qualified hotel management and executive chefs willing to relocate to Rashadiya, much less Feynan, 10 kilometers further into the mountains, proved extremely difficult. Access to the Feynan Lodge was attained via a 4x4 truck. Visitors would leave their car in Greigra and go by pick-up truck or Jeep to the Lodge. Negotiating the concessions for transport was politically dicey. Both Rashadiya and Greigra’s community affairs were conducted by large extended family groups, namely tribes. Awarding transport concessions to families from one tribe but not another ran the risk of undermining community support


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for the new venture and creating rifts within the community. Already, RSCN was walking a tightrope, promising bidding rights on transport, laundry, and supply concessions to families that had not directly benefited from employment at the new Lodge. Chris and Mohammed Qawaba had devoted considerable time and energy to community meetings and negotiations, but they had yet to complete arrangements for subcontractors for transport, laundry, or local supplies. Chris and Mohammed Qawaba’s managerial hours had further been absorbed searching for local hires and then arranging training for these new hires in international hotels and restaurants in the capital, Amman.

Activities Within the Dana Reserve Guided hiking was currently available from the Dana Guesthouse and the Rummana Campsite. One trail linked the Guesthouse and the Rummana Camp, a second trail linked the Guesthouse and the Feynan Lodge. (See the topographical map in Exhibit 12.) RSCN intended to offer packages with stayovers at both locations with hikes between the two, and believed the multi-day treks would be a big draw. However, offering multi-day treks had not yet moved beyond the hypothetical. Though reserve rangers and guides knew the trails blindfolded, they seemed unsure, even reluctant, to handle luggage and transport logistics for visitors. The marketing team had not produced promotional material and the tourism team had not begun to ‘sell’ the package to partnering tour guides. RSCN also envisioned using the Dana Guesthouse and the Feynan Lodge as a stopover for a multi-day trek to the well-known destination of Petra – a distance of some 50 kilometers. This trail, though scouted by an orienteering team, was not much more than a hypothetical path. It had not been laid out formally, and guides had not been trained to lead multiple day excursions with tourists – following the models used in African game reserves and other world heritage sites. Chris also worried about the qualifications of local guides. All were adept at regional trekking but they seemed unready to anticipate problems hosting tourist hikers. Guides were reluctant to carry radio communications, extra water or first aid supplies. As the line supervisor for all reserve staff, Mohammed Qawaba insisted they carry this equipment but often found the guides did not. Guides had even been ‘caught’ in emergency situations without first aid or radio communications.

Headquarters Office – Tourism, Marketing, Accounting and Operations From the Wild Jordan Division office several hours away in Amman, all of RSCN’s eco-tourism operations were served by a tourism manager and a tourism assistant. The tourism desk fielded questions, received, relayed and

confirmed bookings, and monitored occupancy and site usage. The staff at the tourism desk was extremely dedicated, but often had problems communicating with reserve staff and customers because of telecommunications gaps linking the main office with the field. The tourism desk’s antiquated answering machine could hold only 10 messages and it was usually full. The desk staff tried to compensate by giving out their personal cell phone numbers to customers but that often made matters worse when the cell phone’s pre-paid minutes ran out. The Feynan Lodge posed another problem, as it was covered by spotty cellular coverage and did not have landlines or internet access. The tourism department had considered the purchase of a customer relations management system but was stymied by finding an appropriate software package. Locally customized packages using Arabic characters were expensive, and the department simply was not sure which off-the-shelf product would best meet the department’s needs. In the meantime, efforts to collect customer statistics and link finance reports with customer use data were unreliable or nonexistent. The department continued to rely on Excel spreadsheets and phone communication. Tourism marketing efforts were handled by RSCN’s marketing team – a marketing manager and marketing assistant. The marketing team was stretched thin, as the marketing office was responsible for promoting not only the six discrete eco-tourism products but also the Wild Jordan restaurant, Wild Jordan store, and Wild Jordan center events.6 Recent marketing efforts included producing brochures for the reserves and setting up promotional special events, such as yoga weekends and musical evenings (see Exhibits 13 and 14.) The tourism and marketing team also made an effort to partner with local and international tour operators – valuable for bringing in groups of tourists, especially for reaching potential tourists in Europe and the US. The marketing team attended tourism expos in Europe and worked with national tour operators on this front. Tour operators were offered a tiered discount system of up to 20% for different levels of business. Though RSCN valued bulk bookings from tour operators, in terms of per person financial contribution, ‘independent’ tourists were more valuable to RSCN’s operation. To reach this segment, RSCN made sure to get its products into regional travel guides and relied heavily on word-of-mouth publicity. The marketing and tourism team’s joint efforts still fell far short of the amount of publicity needed to build the business, according to those involved in the lodges, campsites, and hikes. Paid publicity in nature conservation magazines, hiking club bulletins, and other targeted segments was also lacking. Chris headed the managerial effort to operate all the reserves and he relied heavily on the reserve managers, such as Mohammed Qawaba, to help direct the effort at each location. Chris viewed weakness in operations as one of the key barriers to building an ‘exclusive’ product



and to maintaining repeat interest in all reserve sites. Philosophically, RSCN wanted to build an ‘exclusive’ product – serving few visitors at high prices; that best met RSCN’s goal of minimum ecological impact with maximum financial contribution. But the customer service, the activities offered, and the existing facilities were simply not yet up to par for an exclusive level of service. Operational weaknesses were largely a result of having expanded so quickly. As the beneficiary of large grants, RSCN found itself the new owner of large facilities, but its management capacity had not caught up. Chris’ attention was endlessly absorbed in countless tasks both small and large that would have been better left to an operations manager – such as directing teams to replace signage with misspelled English words, remove cracked plates from dining service, remove garbage promptly, control customer behavior in the reserves, maintain customer records, etc. In Feynan, where the new Lodge facilities and the new pricing structure were going to demand even higher standards of operations management, these issues were going to prove especially daunting. Meanwhile, the financial position of the entire operation was still in question. Though RSCN published budgets and audited financial reports yearly, the antiquated chart of accounts meant that it was difficult for the team to see if the eco-tourism operations were profitable by unit. Many of the tasks of managing the reserve were not associated with eco-tourism, such as ranger patrol and community outreach, but their costs were nonetheless assigned to eco-tourism operations. Managers had difficulty determining what they were actually spending on eco-tourism versus conservation efforts in the reserve. Chris suspected that the chart of accounts would have to be redrawn and the bookkeeping staff retrained in unit-centered cost accounting if the society were to gain an accurate picture of the costs of running its eco-tourism operations. He considered that issue while looking over the Dana Reserve Income Statement, the Wild Jordan budget for the coming year and the remaining budget for the Feynan project, shown in Exhibit 15 and Exhibit 16.

What to Do with the Money? Though perpetually looking for funding resources, in reality RSCN carried a hefty endowment. Chris considered a hypothetical question: if the operation turned a profit, how should RSCN allocate that profit? The organization would have to balance its multiple roles: the para-governmental, nonprofit and business functions of its charter. The executive management of RSCN believed that most of the profits generated from eco-tourism should be ploughed back into the reserve areas in the shape of conservation investments – paying rangers and supporting activities not necessarily connected to eco-

tourism. They pointed out that if tourism did not support conservation of the reserve, the society might as well erect a giant fence around the reserve borders and keep everyone out. Chris hoped that the eco-tourism operations would ultimately generate enough revenue to completely subsidize the conservation expenses of the reserve. However, some of the marketing, finance, reserve, and tourism management teams believed that that goal was too ambitious. (See Exhibit 17 for an organization chart showing different departments and functions.) The marketing team was dubious that the reserves could attract the targeted number of visitors to generate enough revenue to support both eco-tourism and conservation. Furthermore, they questioned why such a large profit should be demanded from eco-tourism operations. Both Finance and Marketing pointed out that generating a small profit from tourism is one thing, but generating enough revenue to support so many unrelated activities is quite another. Others pointed out that the reserve was located in a region of the world given to swings in geopolitical stability. Reaching the required numbers of annual visitors depended on European tourism and European perceptions of regional safety were dubious even in the best of times. Tourism team members pointed out that relying on business revenues which were subject to political shocks to cover the costs of conservation placed essential conservation functions in jeopardy. Reserve rangers further pointed out that high visitor levels might exceed the capacity limits recommended in the conservation management plan. Beyond those doubts, all team members believed that the business division of RSCN should operate as a business – and return bonuses to those who helped generate a surplus. All that was in the future, however, as first the operation had to turn a profit.

Dana Reserve: Three Products with Operations, Marketing and Financial Dilemmas Chris considered the three products in the Dana Reserve. They were three discrete product offerings, two up and running, and one about to be debuted. The new Lodge was absorbing all his energy, but broader questions remained: how should the other two products be updated and brought up to standard? With three distinct marketing propositions, how should the new Lodge fit into the mix? Should resources be expended on refurbishing and expanding the existing Dana Guesthouse? If the Guesthouse were refurbished, would two high price products compete with each other for the same target market? Should resources be dedicated to revamping the accounting system, updating the tourism desk, and purchasing a customer relations management system? Chris looked back at the financial information in front of


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him. He had to work with the numbers provided but sensed they did not tell the whole story. The questions did not end there. Meeting with reserve manager Mohammed Qawaba might resolve some of the issues, but more were bound to emerge. Chris hoped that

the conservation and eco-tourism functions of the Dana Reserve could continue and management would turn the operation into a sustainable enterprise.

Exhibit 1 Map of Jordan

Exhibit 2 Tourist Arrivals into Jordan by Region of Origin

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Arab countries 772,427 761,598 770,795 963,051 1,131,287 1,046,602Israel 119,261 125,528 136,737 186,275 161,705 161,076European countries 219,445 292,757 326,574 207,332 167,181 182,247North & South America 108,612 123,525 126,411 74,568 72,919 90,251East Asia & the Pacific 33,933 51,603 59,990 41,955 73,861 77,621Total Tourist Arrivals 1,256,428 1,357,822 1,426,879 1,477,697 1,621,850 1,572,615Source: Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities



Exhibit 4 Photographs of the Dana Reserve and Its Eco-Tourism Sites

Panoramic View of the Dana Valley

The Rummana Campsite from a nearby vantage point


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The Feynan Lodge, landscaping, furnishing and finishing uncompleted

The Dana Center, at the base of the Dana Village



Hiking between the Dana Guesthouse and the Rummana Camp

Exhibit 3 Visitors to Jordanian Tourist Sites

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Petra 347,109429,644 481,198 231,203 158,837 160,658 Jerash 226,099264,000299,750167,650104,240105,734 Rum 71,458 78,352 102,904 44,051 30,426 26,080 Source: Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Exhibit 5 Rummana Camp Visitors by

Region of Origin 2002 2003 2004 Jordan 2804 2202 2635 Europe 1942 591 2479 North America 434 87 342 Middle East/Israel 27 122 275 Australia/Far East 76 32 94 Other N/a 67 251 Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department


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Exhibit 6 Rummana Camp Fee Schedule

Jordanian & Resident Non-JordanianSingle Occupancy per tent 11 JD 18 JDDouble Occupancy per tent 16 30Triple Occupancy per tent 21 42Quadruple Occupancy per tent 24 52Lunch, Dinner 6 6Entrance Fee for day visitor 1 5Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department

Exhibit 7 Rummana Camp Visitor Segments

International Non-Jordanian Resident

Jordanian

Independents: hikers, birders & wildlife Observers

Tour group package participants

Amman weekenders

Hikers, birders, & wildlife observers

Amman weekenders

College age campers from affluent families

Family day trippers – families across a range of incomes

Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department

Exhibit 8 Dana Guesthouse Visitors by Region of Origin

2002 2003 2004 Jordan 473 1069 985 Europe 1488 950 1847 North America 170 116 256 Middle East/Israel -- 40 97 Australia/Far East 32 -- 83 Other 98 102 80 Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department



Exhibit 9 Dana Guesthouse Fee Schedule

Jordanian &

Resident Non-Jordanian Single Occupancy room 18 JD 28 JDDouble Occupancy room, no balcony 18 28Double Occupancy room, w/ balcony 25 39Triple Occupancy room 31 50Quadruple Occupancy room 35 55Room with en suite 31 50Lunch, Dinner 6 6Entrance fee for day visitors 1 5Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department

Exhibit 10 Dana Guesthouse Visitor Segments

International Non-Jordanian Resident Jordanian Independents: hikers, birders and wildlife observers

Tour group package participants

Relaxing weekend getaway

Amman weekenders

Hikers, birders, and wildlife observers

Meeting/ RSCN sponsored program participants (yoga, photography)

workshop participants

Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department

Exhibit 11 Feynan Lodge Proposed Fee Schedule

Jordanian & Resident Non-JordanianSingle Occupancy room 45 JD 45 JDDouble Occupancy room, no balcony 50 50Double Occupancy room, w/ balcony 60 60Triple Occupancy room 80 80Quadruple Occupancy room 90 90Lunch, Dinner 6 6Entrance fee for day visitors 1 5 Source: Wild Jordan Tourism Department


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Exhibit 12 Dana Reserve Map & Topographical Schematic



Exhibit 13 Promotional Flyer for Weekend at Dana


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Exhibit 14 Promotional Brochure for Dana Reserve



Exhibit 15 Dana Reserve Income and Expense Statement

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Entrance Fee 24,938 9,472 12,224 10,083 13,007Guest House Fee 42,333 44,519 32,834 26,130 36,700Campsite Fee 29,437 21,256 17,183 11,207 23,361Meals 41,969 31,067 29,024 20,357 41,252Guiding Fee 4,437 1,681 1,564 3,034 4,360Tourist Groups 0 0 0 25,038 16,011Other 7,508 6,854 3,288 592 1,516Service Tax 0 11,539 388 0 0Consolidated Total Income 150,622 JD 126,387 JD 96,505 JD 96,441 JD 136,207 JD

Salary & Compensation 80,215 86,260 104,231 94,174 115,877Vehicle Fuel & Maintenance 20,057 19,516 14,481 22,348 22,698Workshops & Conferences 1,221 318 48 57 1,777Communications 2,705 4,851 3,658 4,508 4,496Building Maintenance 7,234 12,149 12,333 10,881 13,001Stationary & Materials 1,208 2,585 2,795 974 2,031Socio-Expense 18,006 20,933 19,309 19,433 26,429Miscellaneous 3,668 2,351 2,139 1,820 2,023Other 3,420 2,076 4,900 1,296 2,862Consolidated Total Expense 137,735 JD 151,039 JD 163,901 JD 155,491 JD 191,199 JD

Consolidated Profit (Loss) 12,887 (24,652) (59,049) (54,992)(67,396) Source: RSCN Finance Section


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Exhibit 16 2005 Wild Jordan Budget, USAID Budget Remaining

Wild Jordan

Consolidated1 USAID Budget2Jordanian Dinar Salary & Compensation 193,093 49,155 Vehicle Fuel & Maintenance 14,480 5,600 Utilities & Heating 29,884 15,525 Telephone, fax & internet 9,136 3,000 Transportation 820 3,600 Maintenance for equipment, furniture 6,650 2,200 Maintenance for building 9,200 1,200 Cleaning materials 1,170 660 Stationery 1,740 480 Hospitality 1,230 3,000 Lease expense 14,720 3,000 Training courses & field visits 17,634 15,351 Commissions for marketing team 21,700 Commissions for tour guides 4,000 Brochures, exhibitions, advertisements 41,500 Gifts & promotions 8,090

144,554JD 48,016JDTotal Running Expense, Wild Jordan & Feynan Capital Expenditures

Equipment 1,900 1,500 Furniture 19,960 6,000 Computers 700 -Total Capital Expenditures 22,560JD 7,500JD 1. Includes budget for the Wild Jordan Center, Tourism Desk, Marketing Dept, & Wild Jordan Finance & Admin 2. Shows the remainder of a $333K USAID grant for the construction and start up of the Feynan Lodge. Source: RSCN Finance Section



Exhibit 17 RSCN Division and Function Chart


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ENDNOTES 1 This case was written by Laura Bird under the supervision of Professor Richard Linowes of the Kogod School of Business, American University in Washington, DC. It was produced in conjunction with the Emerging Market Development Advisors Program under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE). 2 The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the principal U.S. Government agency providing economic and development assistance to partner countries in support of U.S. foreign policy goals. USAID has had a presence in Jordan since 1952. USAID/Jordan’s economic opportunity projects are undertaken in partnership with the Government of Jordan as well as the private sector and NGO community. Through these partnerships, USAID/Jordan’s stated goal is to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of Jordanian private sector, attract more manufacturers through investment, and create more jobs and higher incomes. USAID’s collaborative efforts have focused on a range of sectors: water, agriculture, economic development, education, health, tourism, environment, and infrastructure. USAID’s total economic assistance to Jordan since 1952 exceeds $4.4 billion. USAID’s recent grant to RSCN for infrastructure and tourism development, including the construction of the Feynan Lodge, totaled about $3million. 3 World Travel and Tourism Council, Jordan Travel and Tourism: Sowing the Seeds of Growth, The 2005 Travel and Tourism Economic Research, London: World Travel and Tourism Council, 2005. 4Jordan Comparative Competitive Study – August 2003,

5 At the time of writing, the Jordanian Dinar was fixed at JD1.41/ US$1. 6 RSCN also managed a campsite and visitor center in the Ajloun reserve, a breed-and-release zoo facility in the Shaumari reserve, a visitor center in the Azraq reserve, and guided hikes in the Mujib reserve.


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