Petra, Jordan: The number of tourists visiting the city of Petra went up by a record 147 percent in January compared to figures reported in the same month of 2019.
Around 1.135 million tourists visited the city in 2019, the highest ever number.
According to the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority’s (PDTRA) count, a total of 82,937 tourists visited the red-rose city in January last, of which 72,294 were foreigners, 7,112 Jordanians, and 2,684 Arabs.
In January 2019, a total of 56,559 people visited Petra, while in January 2022, the lost city welcomed 30,287 visitors.
Suliman Farajat, chairman of the PDTRA, stated that tourism in the red-rose city swiftly rebounded from the Covid pandemic impact in 2022, and that 2023 will beat the record set in 2019.
He said the PDTRA is working on a new tourism track for 4-wheel-drive vehicles that leads to Petra’s backdoor, adding that the flying taxi, which takes visitors on tours around the site and potentially transports from and to Amman, will soon be available along with the hot air balloon.