AMMAN — As
tourism attempts to recover from the two-year freeze imposed by the COVID-19
pandemic, several projects are being undertaken to improve infrastructure and
services in Petra, Jordan’s signature tourist attraction.
اضافة اعلان
This year, the
Nabataean city will see the completion and launch of several projects and
services, including the heritage village project in the Beidha region, the
tourist street project, and the Beidha visitor center, Chief Commissioner of
the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority Sulaiman Farajat told
Jordan
News on Sunday.
The tourist street,
which is the central road next to Petra’s visitor center, has been totally
rebuilt with a new infrastructure that takes into consideration the safety and
accessibility of all, at a total cost of JD3 million, Farajat said.
Furthermore,
Beidha, an ancient suburb of Petra, will soon have its own visitor center, in
addition to the heritage village which will be inaugurated in the last quarter
of the year.
According to the
chief commissioner, the village will have a restaurant that can host 3,000
people, 80 shops for souvenirs and other products, and a show that reenacts
Nabataean life. The site will be open from 8am until midnight with
transportation included in Petra’s entry ticket.
Farajat said that
the holistic plan will see the restriction of all modes of transport in Petra,
and introduce more electric vehicles to replace the use of traditional means at
the site.
As for new services
and activities, a zipline facility will be established with the “highest safety
standards” and a tethered balloon at Al-Weira area will offer scenic views of
Petra with the possibility of a dinner service, according to Farajat.
He noted that Petra
offers incentives for investors in the field of tourism and light industries,
which has contributed to an increase in the demand for additional hotel rooms.
Farajat said that
Petra currently has about 2,600 hotel rooms and 900 rooms in 10 new hotels,
some of which are under construction, and others have obtained official
approvals to start construction. These hotels will provide at least 500 new job
opportunities in the region upon completion.
Tariq Tweissi, head
of Petra Hotels Association, said that the occupancy rate in Petra’s hotels has
increased in the past three months to reach 65 percent, adding that “it was no
more than 10 percent before that.”
Tweissi stressed that the most important challenge in Petra
is the seasonality of tourism, as the occupancy rate sometimes reaches zero.
Another challenge is the shortage of water which forces hotel owners to buy
water at expensive prices. The associated has dug artesian wells to supply the
hotels in an effort to lower water prices.
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