‘Petra witnessed increase in number of visitors in January’

AMMAN — The number of tourists to Petra rose by 40 per cent in January 2018 when compared to the same month of last year, according to Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Chief Commissioner Falah Omoush.

 The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Omoush as saying that a total of 34,616 foreign tourists visited Petra  last month, compared to 24, 094 in January of 2017.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Commissioner of PDTRA Suleiman Farajat pointed out that the overall improvement of tourism throughout last year was 34 per cent compared to the previous year, including foreign visitors, Arabs, Jordanians and school trips. 

The number of foreign visitors reached 470,167 people last year, marking a 50 per cent increase compared to 2016 when the number of visitors reached 321,143, while the number of Arab and Jordanian visitors to Petra reached 129,246 during the past year, he said.

Farajat added that the total number of foreign, Arab and Jordanian visitors to Petra in 2017 reached 620,367 compared to 464,154 visitors in 2016, indicating that tourism improved significantly by 33 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016.

He said the authority expects a "significant" rise in the number of tourists to the rose-red city in 2018.