Jordan Times
Friday, January 12, 2007
Foreign tourists to Petra drop
by 8.6% in 2006
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — The Kingdom’s leading tourist magnet Petra saw an 8.6 per cent drop in
visitors last year compared to the previous year, official figures revealed
Thursday.
Malek Amarat, head of Petra’s Tourism Department, said a total of 359,366 Arab
and foreign tourists visited the popular site in 2006, compared to 393,186 the
previous year.
He said there were 12.7 per cent less foreign tourists last year than in the
previous year.
Preliminary figures released by the Ministry of Tourism showed that the ancient
city attracted 311,318 foreign visitors in 2005 compared to 271,833 in 2006.
The slowdown in tourist traffic brought last year’s revenues down to JD5.769
million from JD6.595 million in 2005.
The drop in visitors was largely caused by the ongoing political tensions in the
region over the past year.
The Kingdom’s tourism industry, however, took the hardest blow following
Israel’s attack on Lebanon in July, which sent already wavering traveller
confidence in the region plummeting.
This occurred despite months of intensive promotional efforts and investments by
the Kingdom to build a solid image of the region as a safe and secure travel
destination.
Tourism Ministry figures showed a 30.2 per cent decline in foreign tourists to
Petra in July last year, with 13,153 registered visitors compared to 18,850 in
July, 2005.
Foreign tourist traffic continued to drop the following month (52 per cent),
from 24,742 tourists in August 2005 to 11,878 tourists in the same month last
year.
But Amarat said there was an increase in Jordanian tourists last year, their
numbers reaching 87,533 in 2006 compared to 81,868 the previous year.