AMMAN —
As 2022 winds down, the tourism sector continues to deliver robust performance
in terms of revenue and number of arrivals, beating all projections, the Jordan
News Agency, Petra, reported.
اضافة اعلان
Figures by the
Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) show that tourism income jumped by 125.4 percent
in the first 10 months of 2022 to a staggering $4.77 billion, compared to the figure
recorded in the same period of 2021.
By the end of
October this year, the total number of international visitors to the Kingdom
had reached 4.14 million, according to CBJ data.
Industry experts
and stakeholders said that the recovery of the tourism industry this year is a
“success story” and that it will likely continue its upward trajectory.
They added that
this year’s figures are steadily approaching those of 2019, which they termed
the “golden year” for the tourism industry.
Citing tax breaks,
accommodating lending policies, and government-sponsored support programs, they
emphasized that the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was crucial
in aiding the recovery of the tourism industry.
According to
Ibrahim Bazazo, a professor at the University of Jordan’s School of Tourism and
Hospitality in
Aqaba, encouraging cruise ship tourism, which brought in about
20,000 tourists, and focusing on religious tourism to draw Christian pilgrims
were two factors in the tourism industry’s recovery.
He added that
other factors include the fact that the Kingdom has hosted numerous large
exhibitions and conferences and served as a destination for a number of charter
airlines.
Chairman of the
Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association
Awni Kawar said the tourism industry
had seen an unexpected increase in both visitor numbers and revenue this year
as it started to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
Kawar predicted that next
year’s tourist season would see an increase of 20 percent over this year’s, and
emphasized the importance of luring tourism investments, particularly in the
ancient city of Petra and the Dead Sea.
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