"The Role of Domestic Tourism in Supporting the National Economy, from the Point View of Employers" Field Study on Aqaba Economical City

The research dealt with the role of internal tourism in supporting the Jordanian economy, considering that Aqaba is a special case that represents an important part of the Jordanian domestic tourism. The problem of the research was to answer the following questions: Is Aqaba area characterized as an attractive tourist destination? Is Aqaba special economic zone authority (ASEZA) contributes to increase the Jordanian national income? Is the lack of infrastructure considers an obstacle to the development of domestic tourism in Aqaba? The data collected through the questionnaire were consisted of 30 paragraphs using the forth Likert scale. The importance of the research lies in its benefits to the decision makers of (ASEZA) in avoiding some of the obstacles and pitfalls that face employers and tourists. Data were collected from employers in Aqaba by using simple random sampling. Analytical descriptive methods, standard deviations, percentages, and T-tests were used. The results of the research showed that there are special characteristics that promote the internal tourism in Aqaba. It concluded that (ASEZA) plays a large role in promoting the internal tourism to Aqaba through tourism awareness and through providing the infrastructure and metadata. In contrast, the research found obstacles that hinder the internal tourism to Aqaba, and the high cost of tourism was one of them. The research recommended the need to intensify the planned advertisements and promotions according to the tourist seasons, establish extra parking spaces and hotel rooms, and conduct other researches that represent the tourist's opinion themselves.