Apr 26 2012 |
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Number of visitors drops, but revenues rise in first quarter -- report
By Khetam Malkawi AMMAN -- Despite a drop in the number of visitors to the Kingdom in the first quarter of this year, tourism revenues increased by 3.9 per cent, official figures showed.According to a Central Bank of Jordan report released this week, 1,425,918 tourists visited the Kingdom in the January-March period, a 9.1 per cent drop compared to the same period of 2011, when the figure stood at 1,568,994.
Revenues generated by the tourism sector in the first quarter stood at JD528 million, an increase of 3.9 per cent compared to JD508 million in the same period last year, the report indicated.
The drop in the total figure was primarily caused by a decrease in the number of same-day visitors, as the number of one-day tourists who came to the Kingdom in the first quarter of 2012 (515,027) was 26.9 per cent lower than the figure from January-March 2011 (704,175).
Although Petra registered the highest number of visitors among the Kingdom's tourist sites in the period in question, the number dropped by 22.1 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The number of tourists who visited the rose-red city between January and March fell to 140,482 from 180,405 in the same period of last year.
The only tourism site that witnessed a rise in the number of visitors in the first quarter was Ajloun Castle, with 28,600 tourists visiting the site, registering 19.2 per cent increase from a year earlier, when the figure stood at 24,000.
© Jordan Times 2012
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