ammonnews.net

Ammon News - A total of 471,037 tourists visited the ancient city of Petra during the January-April period of 2023, according to data issued by the Petra Development Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) on Monday.

The data showed that the rose-red city welcomed about 146,687 visitors in April, including 126,373 foreigners, 3,365 Arabs, and 14,052 Jordanians, in addition to 1,415 visitors as part of the Urdunna Janna program.

The number of visitors to Petra in April jumped by 137 percent compared to last year, 4425 percent for the same month in 2021, and 6 percent compared with April 2019, the PDTRA statistics revealed.

Suleiman Farajat, the chief commissioner of the PDTRA, indicated that the surge in visitors’ numbers is propelled by the stability of the region, Petra’s global importance and uniqueness, in addition to the participatory efforts made by various parties to promote the rose-red city, and the Jordanian tourism sites.

Farajat also expected that Petra’s visitors will continue to increase and exceed half a million before the end of May, and about a million visitors by the end of this year.

The authority is keen to improve the city’s infrastructure and services, he stressed, noting that the second half of 2023 will witness an increase in the number of hotel rooms, with the aim of raising the number of overnight tourists in the region.