Petra, the “kiss of beauty seekers” celebrates one million visitors

Ayman Fadilat / Petra - Ma'an Governorate

"I did not expect that my first visit to Jordan would witness such a celebration. People here are kind and hospitable, I live the joy of honeymoon with my husband, and today I live two joys with a million."

With these words, Alison Curry, the American tourist to Petra, Nabatieh, expressed her joy at visiting the Kingdom, and registering the number of one million visitors to the Pink City, in the first of its kind in the history of Jordanian tourism.

"I heard and read about Petra a lot, but when I first saw her I was impressed by her beauty," Carrie told Al Jazeera Net.

The official tourism activities and the private sector were keen to organize a solemn celebration on the occasion of the arrival of one million visitors to the city, attended by a few thousand tourists and visitors and the people of Petra, on Thursday evening.

The pink city was crowned in 2007 as one of the seven wonders of the world, after being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.It is characterized by its unique landmarks that became a kiss for visitors and a symbol of Jordan and one of the most attractive tourist sites for tourists.

The numbers speak
In terms of figures, tourism income soared by the beginning of this month by 9.4%, recording revenues of about 3.5 billion dinars (4.9 billion dollars), according to statistics of the Central Bank of Jordan.

Experts attributed the reason for the increase in the total number of tourists to the Kingdom by 7.7%, during the first ten months of this year 2019, compared with the same period in 2018.

In October, tourism revenues increased by 13.4% compared to the same month in 2018, recording 325 million dinars ($ 458 million) due to the increase in the total number of tourists by 15%, to 4.5 million tourists.

The Kingdom has around 100,000 archaeological sites, five of which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, nature reserves that have won international awards, and archaeological sites that attract foreign and Arab tourism such as Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Jerash, Umm Qais, the Dead Sea and the Bath of Christ.

100% hotel reservations
"We are expecting more tourists to visit the Kingdom in the coming months, and in unprecedented numbers, after we were able to open new European markets such as Greece, Poland, Germany and Bulgaria for tourism in Jordan," said the head of the Tourism Promotion Authority Abdul Razak Arabiyat to Al Jazeera Net.

He added that Jordan has become one of the top ten tourist destinations in the world. Agreements have been signed with international airlines and tourism to receive more than 20 aircraft a week at King Hussein Airport in Aqaba.

According to the Tourism Promotion Authority, hotel reservations in Petra, Aqaba and Wadi Rum reached 100% this month, up to the beginning of May 2020.

Stimulus plan
Chairman of the Association of Tourism Agents Mohamed Samih told Al Jazeera Net that tourism demand is increasing rapidly, and we want to keep pace with this acceleration with greater interaction with the tourism product provided to visitors.

He continued: There is a scarcity in the hotel rooms in Petra, and a shortage of transport buses, and the infrastructure of roads and services and restrooms ineligible, in addition to lack of tourism investments in the northern areas of the Kingdom, which is rich in archaeological and tourist sites, especially spring and summer.

Tourist expert Abdul Basit Rubin shares with Samih that the tourist facilities need more attention, the entry of one million tourists to Petra means the entry of fifty million dinars on the treasury, where this figure reflected on the infrastructure equipped to receive five million visitors, the number we aspire for next year.

He adds to the island Net that the doors of the Minister of Tourism is closed to investors, and the state of partnership between the private and public tourism sector in its weakest form, there are four thousand tourist sites in the Kingdom can not find only marketed by the private sector.

The private tourism sector scored a threshold on the government for not being included in the economic stimulus plans launched by the government during the past two months.

Tourism is described as Jordan's oil and generates 12% of its public revenues. As of the end of August, revenues rose by 16% to 2.6 billion dinars (3.6 billion dollars) compared to 2.2 billion dinars (3.1 billion dollars) for the same period last year.