Tourists surge back to Jordan's desert marvel Petra
Jordan tourism authorities confirm that Petra is back in business and drew 900,000 visitors last year.
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In this Feb. 13, 2017, file photo, tourists brave a rare rainstorm in plastic ponchos to peer at the Treasury, Jordan's most famous archaeological monument leftover from the Nabatean civilization in the kingdom's Petra archaeological park (AP Photo/Sam McNeil, File)
Tending to his camels in Petra, Jordan's spectacular archaeological marvel hidden deep in a desert canyon, Hussein Bdoul is all smiles: the tourists are back.
After the Covid pandemic years transformed the storied "Rose City" into a ghost town, the father of seven is back at work, offering visitors rides on his decorated animals.
"Tourism has returned and the numbers are even greater," Bdoul said, adding that during the pandemic, "we did not see anyone in Petra," a disaster for the town where "90 percent of people work in tourism".
Petra is back in business, according to Jordan tourism authorities, and drew 900,000 visitors last year, close to the record of one million set in 2019.
Jordan as a whole received 4.6 million visitors in 2022, almost four times more than in 2020, earning the country $5.3 billion.
Top draw Petra, known for its stunning temples hewn out of the rose-pink cliff faces, is a United Nations World Heritage site that was picked as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in an online poll conducted in 2007.
It was built in 312 BC as the capital of the ancient Arab kingdom of the Nabateans, which fell to the Romans in 106 BC.
About 1,700 people make a living from Petra as tour guides, trinket sellers, or by taking visitors through the site on horses, camels, donkeys, or electric buggies.
"We breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the return of tourists," said Muhammad Samahin, 16, who sells drinks while sitting on woven rugs inside the Moon Cave near the famed Treasury site.
The post-pandemic tourism comeback had exceeded all expectations, according to Suleiman Farajat, head of the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority.
Official promotional campaigns in new overseas markets and low-cost airline flights helped the recovery, Farajat said.
Petra currently has 4,000 rooms and three new five-star hotels earned permits, and "If things continue this way, we may reach, during the next three to four years, the threshold of two million tourists in Petra" every year, he added.
