Founder and Managing Director at Baraka
Amman, Jordan
Muna is the Founder and Managing Director of Baraka. Passionate about travel and tourism but keen on the impacts of the industry, she started Baraka with the drive of minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and societies through dedicated planning and implementation.
Muna started her career in tourism as the Regional Marketing Manager for the Jordan Tourism Board. She also conducted international research on the negative impacts of tourism on communities in South East Asia, and studied the trickledown effect of tourism on local economies. She was also mentored by Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year Dr. Curt Rhodes on social development and integrated development concepts in tourism models.
Muna was the marketing manager for Jordan’s two biggest source markets at the Jordan Tourism Board managing market based representative offices. She played a significant role in writing the national tourism marketing strategy for Jordan and led the opening of the South American tourism markets in Chile, Argentina and Brazil under the leadership of their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania. She was the project manager of the annual Jordan Travel Mart and has managed Jordan’s participation in tens of international tourism exhibitions and fairs.
Upon founding Baraka, Muna has been involved in designing sustainable tourism development projects and working with clients keen on developing community based and nature based tourism products. She created ecotourism development strategies for six protected areas and special conservation areas in Jordan, evaluated international ecotourism experiences, prepared ecotourism marketing strategies, and conducted several educational and training seminars in Jordan and internationally on topics relating to ecotourism, adventure tourism, voluntourism, and community based tourism. She is considered a contributor on these topics and has been invited to speak at several international conferences and universities.
Muna has served as a member of the drafting committee of the Dana +10 declaration for the rights of mobile indigenous communities presented at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.