Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The number of visitors to the ancient city of Petra shot up a whopping 50% in November of 2019 compared to the same period of last year, after it recently celebrated its one millionth visitor for the year.

In a statement on Sunday, the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) said the number of visitors last month reached 152,576 tourists, of those 141,556 were foreigners and 10,776 were Jordanians and Arabs.

In November 2018, the rose-red city received 101,806, of those 96,358 were foreigners and 5,413 were Jordanians and Arabs, registering a 47% and 99% increase respectively.

A staggering 1.4 million tourists from different nationalities visited Petra during the first 11 months of 2019, while last year over 700,000 visited the famous tourist attraction.

PDTRA Chief Commissioner, Suleiman Farajat, said Petra saw a "strong" tourist movement and unprecedented figures, noting that November recorded the highest numbers.

The joint efforts between all public and private authorities and the local community bodes well of a better future for tourism, he noted, adding this cooperation was the drive behind the increase.