It all started with a bus and a book.

On a bus trip back to Amman where she was studying, Elizabeth, the guest house’s founder, was reading when a young girl approached her, selling handmade bookmarks.

I wish there were a better way for artists like her to reach customers, she remembers thinking. She shouldn’t have to search for people reading on a bus.

This interaction stuck with her. While studying in Amman, she interned for Desert Rose, a social venture that works with marginalized individuals to teach them to make and sell olive wood handicrafts. Later that year, she worked at a guest house and learned more about the business side of the hospitality industry.

The idea for the Village Artisan Guest House was born through tying these three experiences together. Its aim: to create a social venture that addresses the hardships artisans face in Jordan and the large-scale issues that tourism poses across the globe.

At the Village Artisan Guesthouse, we believe that we can harness the power of tourism for good and create pathways for growth and flourishing where it matters most, at the local level. Tourism should teach people to love where they visit–and that includes taking care of that place and its people.