Innovative Tourism Pilot Service (Firm)

About Mercy Corps:

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

The Informal Livelihoods Advancement Activity Iqlaaعis a five- year activity that aims to put Jordanian Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) on a path to recovery after the extraordinary crisis that the businesses have faced, help them access the safety net measures in Jordan, and, most importantly, regain productivity and growth.

Mercy Corps approach to IQLAA integrates direct assistance with market systems development (MSD) interventions to support MSEs along the full journey from recovery to growth and resilience. Grounded in evidence-based, adaptive, and inclusive support, Jordan’s MSEs can emerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger and more resilient, transformed through new ways of doing business and improved access to finance, markets, and services. Understanding that women, youth, and people living with disabilities (PLWD) face unique constraints to starting up and leading resilient MSEs, Mercy Corps design will infuse a Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion (GYSI) lens throughout all interventions. Mercy Corps approach is committed to supporting MSEs build back, formalize, and grow, emphasizing systems-level change, equitable opportunities, and a dignified work environment for all women, men, and youth, and PLWD in Jordan.

Background:

Pre-covid (2019) tourism in Jordan represented 14% of the GDP, 41.8% of exports1 and employed approximately 53,500 people. The Covid epidemic destroyed over 20% of the direct jobs in the tourism sector and impacted over 200,000 indirect tourism related jobs in rural areas. Moreover, tourism revenues declined 74% in 2020 (compared to 2019)2. The average tourism stay in Jordan is 5 days3. Thus, an increase in the number of days spent in Jordan will have a significant impact on tourism revenues, GDP, and employment. The purpose of this ToR is to identify and test one or more different models for increasing tourism duration.

Purpose and Project Description:

USAID Iqlaaع project is looking for an established tourism related NGO, CBO, or private company with strong knowledge of the tourism sector and knowledge/experience in supporting and dealing with home-based businesses (HBBs), micro enterprises and small businesses in the tourism sector.

The NGO/CBO/private company is sought to conceptualize and implement a pilot which will engage with local communities to develop their skills and competencies to create new innovative/creative tourism products and activities in any governorate. The selected NGO/CBO/private company will be responsible for integrating the new tourism products and activities within the Jordanian tourism product by promoting the innovative/creative products/activities to tour operators, tour guides, hotels, and other stakeholders.

ToR Objectives:

• Improve the variety and innovativeness/creativeness of sustainable Jordanian tourism products and services.
• Improve the ability of local communities including women, youth and persons living with disabilities to design, develop and deliver new innovative tourism products and services within their local communities.
• Integrate these new innovative and creative tourism products and services into the Jordanian tourism value proposition.
• Increase local sustainable self-employment, job creation and income generation from the development delivery and promotion of innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Foster inclusiveness by integrating women, youth and people living with disabilities into the development, delivery and promotion of these new innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Protect, preserve, extend, and integrate local heritage and natural resources in the development and delivery of new innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Diversify local rural economies through the sustainable design, development and delivery of innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Improve and maintain the quality standards of new innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Contribute to sustainable tourism development in destinations, as per Jordan’s national

priorities and Jordan’s commitment to the 2030 Global Agenda and SDGs.

Expected Activities:

• Work with local communities to identify willing participants/home-based businesses including those operated by women, youth and persons with disabilities who are interested in developing and delivering innovative and creative tourism products and services. Suggested methodologies for this activity could include desk research, market assessment or direct contact with the local communities.
• Work with local communities to increase their awareness of the different types of innovative and creative tourism focused products and services, by conducting awareness sessions or social media or any proposed tool.
• Provide necessary external technical assistance to develop innovative and creative tourism focused products and services and develop training material with manual and guidelines and it has to be branded based on Mercy Corps and USAID Iqlaa branding guideline, also mentoring them by expertise from the sector (Note: ensure products are inclusive).
• Integrate with tourism platform to support both MSEs and individuals to be more exposed to broader number of customers
• Create partnerships with other related stakeholders in the field to cover other related aspects or more creative areas, for example, hidden tourism sector.
• Work with local communities/individuals to develop sustainable business models for the proposed innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Provide relevant business training to local communities and individuals including women, youth and persons living with disabilities who wish to design, develop, and deploy innovative and creative tourism products and services.
• Assist local communities and individuals including women, youth and persons living with disabilities who wish to design, develop, and deploy innovative and creative tourism products and services to network with the national and international tourism ecosystem to create demand.
• Monitor the local communities and individuals including women, youth and persons living with disabilities who wish to design, develop, and deploy innovative and creative tourism products and services, to identify potential areas of improvement with the objective of reaching financial sustainability.

Required Experience & Skills:

• Ability to interact and coordinate with local communities and national tourism stakeholders.
• 5-10 years of relevant experience mainly in the field of tourism and creative industries
• Technical experience in conceptualizing new products and services, designing the new products and services and deploying new products and services.
• English and Arabic fluency
• Access to or ability to develop national and international tourism networks
• The ability to work closely with multiple teams remotely