DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjebm.2026.v13i09.009

Pages: 497-510

The competitiveness of tourism in Jordan is vulnerable to reputational risks, uneven service delivery across destinations, and weak digital execution in an industry that has become increasingly dependent on online search, reviews, and digital reservation platforms. The role of e-marketing in enhancing the competitiveness and performance of Jordan's tourism industry is examined in this study. It further identified the organisational, technological, and institutional considerations that led to successful application. It was a mixed-method study, which included a questionnaire to 81 tourism-related Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs and a set of nine semi-structured interviews with small, medium, and large tourism enterprises. The questionnaire items were appropriate and demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.951). Results showed that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the frequency of mobile marketing and the preference for using e-marketing compared with traditional strategy, rSP (81) =.31, p =.005. Search Engine Optimization SEO emerged as the leading approach, and mobile marketing (mean = 3.74) and SEO (mean = 3.70) were found to be most effective for communication. The study recommends mobile-first, SEO-based solutions through stronger coordination, dedicated budgets, and advanced analytics.