January-May tourist rates rise by 10.5%

AMMAN —Tourism Minister Lina Annab said that the number of tourists to the Kingdom in the first five months of the year increased by 10.5 per cent, compared with the same period of last year.

A total of 2.6 million tourists visited Jordan until the end of this year’s May, compared with 1.864 million visitors to the country in the same period of 2016. 

She noted that the total number of overnight tourists in the first five months of 2017 witnessed an 11.5-per cent hike, reaching 1.663 million, up from 1.491 million.

The number of tourist groups to the Kingdom  increased by 55.6 per cent, reaching a total of 205,000 groups in 2017’s first five months, up from 132,000 groups Jordan welcomed in the same period of 2016, the minister noted.madaba

Annab said that Petra  visitors increased by  42.4 per cent, with the figure going up from185,000 to 263,000 in the first five months of 2017.

Madaba visitors increased by  54.9 per cent, as the number of tourists rose from 61,000 in the January-May of 2016 to 94,000 in the first five months of 2017, Annab added.

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Visitors to Mount Nebo in the governorate registered the highest increase rate with 61.7 per cent, where some 78,000 tourists visited the site during January-May  2017, going up from 48,000 people during the same period of last year.