Tourism sector shows healthy signs in third quarter this year

AMMAN — The number of tourists grew by 7.1 per cent in the third quarter this year, while the increase was 7.8 per cent in the number of overnight visitors. 

The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement, cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the number of overnight tourists amounted to around 3.6 million, compared with 3.3 million in the same period of 2017. 

The ministry added that international tourists’ total number reached around 4.2 million in 2018, compared with around 3.9 million in the summer of 2017.

In terms of regions, European tourists accounted for 25.2 per cent of the total number, followed by Latin Americans (18.9 per cent), Asians (18.4 per cent) and Africa (15.3 per cent). 

Figures pertaining to single countries indicated that Saudi tourists ranked first among all countries, reaching 757,000, with an increase of 11.8 per cent in the third quarter of this year, compared with the same span last year.

US tourists who came to Jordan in the said period was 134, 000 with an 18 per cent increase, while German tourists amounted to 55,000 with a 46.9 per cent growth over the third quarter of 2017. The number of UK tourists was 39, 000 with a growth rate of 12.4 per cent,while visitors from India amounted to 47,000 with a 27 per cent increase.

In terms of growth in the number of visitors to ancient sites, Petra saw a 33 per cent growth, Jerash (28 per cent), Wadi Rum (33.3 per cent), Madaba map church(40.1 per cent), Mount Nebo (149.8 per cent), the Baptism Site (39.9 per cent) and Ajloun Castle (23.3 per cent).

The report showed that the ticket sale sat all these sites reached around JD6.4 million until the end of October 2018 compared with JD3 million approximately in the same period of 2017, achieving a 104 per cent increase.