Jordan Times
Friday, November 19, 2004
Tourist arrivals to Kingdom on
the increase
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — The Kingdom witnessed a notable increase in the number of tourist
arrivals during the first three quarters of this year, as visitor numbers
climbed by nearly 13 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Official figures released by the Ministry of Tourism showed a considerable rise
in tourists from Europe, the United States, East Asia and the Pacific in
particular.
The greatest increase was recorded in visitors from the United States, with a
53.3 per cent rise in tourist arrivals between January and September compared to
the same period of last year. The total amount of visitors from the US stood at
98,525 between the sated period, compared to 64,392 in 2003.
Arrivals from Europe also increased by 46.6 per cent, bringing a total of
179,191 tourists to the Kingdom during the first three quarters of this year
compared to 122,247 in the same period last year.
The Kingdom also witnessed a substantial rise in visitors from Asia and the
Pacific with a 42.8 per cent increase in tourists.
According to the figures, some 80,377 tourists from the Asian continent visited
Jordan between January and September compared to 56,294 during that period of
2003.
For a country still affected by the political turmoil in both neighbouring
Palestinian and Iraq, increased tourist traffic from Europe and the US signals a
positive forecast for the tourism industry.
Prior to the global slump following Sept. 11, the Kingdom relied largely on
visitors from the US and Europe for a substantial segment of its tourism
revenues earnings.
However, despite the increase in tourist traffic witnessed in the first nine
months of this year, tourism receipts dropped 1.9 per cent.
According to the figures, Jordan generated JD433.1 million in tourism revenues
between January and September compared to JD441.7 million during the same period
in 2003.
As for tourists from Arab and Gulf countries, a significant alternative tourist
market the Kingdom has relied heavily on to make up for the loss in foreign
visitors, also showed an unbalanced picture.
While visitors from Gulf countries rose by 7.8 per cent in the first nine months
of this year, arrivals from other Arab countries dropped nearly 17 per cent
compared to the same period last year.
Efforts to boost local tourism through attractive package tours such as “Petra
Charm,” and “Summer Ajloun,” contributed to rejuvenating businesses in these
areas but figures revealed an overall 4.6 per cent drop in the number of nights
spent by residents in hotels.
Petra Charm, a partly government-subsidised room rate package initiative
intended to boost the ailing hotel business in Petra, resulted in thousands of
Jordanian tourists visiting this area.
Although nights spent by residents decreased, despite the government-sponsored
tourism campaigns, the total number of nights spent by nonresidents rose by 37.4
per cent.
According to the figures, arrivals on packaged tours rose by nearly 88 per cent
during the first three quarters of this year, as did their length of stay.
Figures showed that 177,574 tourists visited the country during the first nine
months of this year and spent an average of 5.01 nights here compared to 4.13
nights during the same period last year.
The Kingdom's major tourism sites also witnessed increases in visitors,
generating a total of JD2, 489,564 in tourism receipts during the first nine
months of this year compared to JD748,165 in the same period last year.
The ancient city of Petra saw a 135 per cent rise in the number of visitors,
from 223,550 tourists during the first three quarters of this year, compared to
95,117 in the same time last year.
Tourists to Jerash increased by nearly 69 per cent, while visitors to Madaba
rose to 61,271 from 18,000 tourists during that comparative period.
Tourists to Um Qala also increased to 191,717 visitors between January and
September compared to 39,000 visitors during the same period last year.