AMMAN — Hotel
occupancy in Amman and
Petra fell this week by 28 percent and 2 percent
respectively, but increased elsewhere especially in areas with beaches because
of the heat wave pounding the Kingdom, according to tour agents.
اضافة اعلان
Abd Al-Hakim
Al-Hindi, head of the
Jordan Hotels Association (JHA), told Jordan News that occupancy rates in the Dead Sea increased by 3 percent to a record 79
percent of their capacity.
In the Red Sea
resort city of Aqaba, the hotel occupancy reached 80 percent, with the
concentration being in areas near the beaches, where an 85 percent hotel
occupancy was recorded, Hindi said.
Jordan’s Tourism
Board did not respond to repeated calls for comment by Jordan News.
Hindi said that
there was no substantial decrease, if the hotel occupancy rates were compared
to the same period in 2021, when strict health protocols under the COVID-19
pandemic were in place.
“One can safely
assume that the occupancy rates for the current year are close to 2019, due to
the abolition of the health protocols last March”, he added.
But he explained
that there were some areas, where hotel occupancy and facilities affiliated
with hotels dropped because of the heat wave.
According to Hindi,
the income ratio increased during the first seven months of this year, partly
due to festivals held in the Kingdom. He said the number of tourists visiting
Jordan exceeded 2.5 million, a 220.4 percent jump over the corresponding period
of 2021.
Official figures
show that the tourism income shot up by 204.5 percent to JD2.034 billion during
the same period this year, compared with the same period in 2021.
Awni Kawar,
president of Jordan
Inbound Tour Operators Association, dismissed that the rise
in temperature affected tourism activity. He insisted that the main tourism
season in the Kingdom begins in mid-September.
“Most of the
sightseers in Jordan now are Spaniards and Italians, who are accustomed to hot
weather,” he told Jordan News.
He explained that
the varying daily temperature, which soars during daytime but falls at night,
is an added advantage.
In Petra, he noted,
temperatures fall considerably at night, giving a unique cool breeze.
Ahmed Malhas, a
member of the Tourist Guides Association, warned that the temperature rise
directly affects tourism activity, especially since the goal of tourists is to
visit historic and archaeological sites in Jordan.
Tour operator Atef
Zeidan said the tourists from Italy and Spain who are sightseeing in Jordan now
are familiar with the Kingdom’s hot weather.
“Other European tourists usually visit Jordan in the spring
or autumn,” when temperatures are more acceptable to them. He said he doubted
that the heat wave will bear serious negative repercussions on Jordan’s hotel
sector.
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