‘Aqaba welcomed nearly 280,000 tourists over six months’

AMMAN — Some 278,423 tourists visited the port city of Aqaba during the first six months of 2016, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Tuesday.

The average hotel stay was 2.07 nights, while hotel occupancy rates stood at 35.53 per cent in Aqaba, 330km south of Amman, in the first half of the year, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Spokesperson Abdulmahdi Katamine said.

April was the busiest month, with 89,176 tourists, followed by May, with 54,491 tourists, and March, when 48,190 people visited the coastal resort. 

Among foreign tourists, the largest number — 23,788 — came from Russia, followed by 5,884 Saudis, 5,320 Americans, 4,302 Brits and 3,912 Germans. 

Some 160,412 Jordanian tourists visited Aqaba during the same period, Katamine said. 

Meanwhile, the visitors centre at Wadi Rum welcomed 368,550 tourists. 

A total of 28,059 tourists entered Jordan at the Wadi Araba crossing between January and July, of whom 23,832 were part of tour groups, the spokesperson said. 

The authorities are promoting Jordan’s “golden triangle of tourism” — Aqaba, Petra and Wadi Rum, encouraging visitors to enjoy Aqaba’s beaches, Wadi Rum’s desert landscape and Petra’s culture.

The Jordan Tourism Board has also been holding promotion campaigns in France, Germany and Britain, under which advertisements featuring key tourist attractions in the Kingdom are placed on taxis, buses and trains.