Petra hotel investment worth JD40 million in pipeline — PDTRA

AMMAN — Nine investors in the rose-red city of Petra are preparing nine investment projects in the hospitality sector with a capital of more than JD40 million.

The new businesses are expected to provide at least 600 hotel rooms during 2021 and 2022, and generate at least 250 new jobs.

Despite the repercussions of the global coronavirus pandemic causing disruption in the tourism industry, the hospitality industry continues to rank first in the region in preparation for the upcoming tourism seasons, which brought up an increase in the number of hotel rooms in Petra, Chief Commissioner of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Suleiman Farajat said on Wednesday.

During his tour of the Petra District's investment projects, the official was briefed on the main challenges facing investment sector, including lack of financial support for projects through concessional loans to complete their construction work. 

Despite the issues brought up, the majority of the projects are all within the scheduled time frame, according to a PTDRA statement.

Farajat noted that three applications for five-star hotels are still under study and pending final approvals for engineering plans. These are expected to start by the end of the year to add about 350 hotel rooms.

The PDTRA had granted investment incentives, in addition to tax and customs exemptions through the unified investment window launched in 2019 to reach, with the volume of incentives and exemptions for these projects, at multiple stages, approximately JD8 million, the statement said.

Incentives have been offered according to the progress of the work, as investors benefit from them once they were granted permits to start work, until the stages of finishing, furnishing and employment.