Several projects in Jerash to preserve heritage, employ locals

JERASH — As numbers of visitors continue to grow, Jerash Archaeological Park has received 20 per cent more tourists during first third of this year than the same period of 2018, an official said.

Some 121,750 people visited Jerash during the first four months of 2019, compared with 101,900 visitors during the same period of last year, the director of the Jerash Department of Antiquities, Ziad Ghunaimat, told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

For revenues, the ticket office collected JD952,530, compared with JD763, 524 during the first third of 2018, according to Ghunaimat.

Ghunaimat noted that Jerash, 45km north of Amman, has been witnessing an increase in the numbers of visitors since 2017, after a few years in which less tourists came, due to the regional circumstances.

He noted that the department implemented projects this year at a total cost of JD280,000, which provided 90 job opportunities for the local community.

The projects include cleaning and weeding the park, restoration, sorting and documentation of monuments, and building a new museum, according to Ghunaimat.

The department is also implementing a project to preserve the octagonal church, located outside the archaeological site, according to the official.

The director pointed out that the project of establishing the Jerash Regional Restoration Centre has kicked off with 3 million euros in grants from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The establishment of the centre, which will be completed next April, aims at training students on the restoration of antiquities, which will help protect the heritage and history of the city, said Ghunaimat.