AMMAN - The majestic appeal of Petra has just taken another step forward on the global map, with 50 European women carrying that very name set to visit the site next month.
The women, all named Petra, were invited to visit the ancient city for three days as winners of an online competition held by the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB).
The competition, titled "Petras to Petra", targeted women from German-speaking countries to register on a special site designed by the JTB, which eventually selected 50 winners who received the largest number of votes.
Around 1,000 women took part in the competition and the lucky 50 are 29 women from Germany, 12 from Switzerland and 9 from Austria.
JTB Regional Marketing Coordinator Muna Haddad told The Jordan Times yesterday that the winners will be spending three days in Petra beginning November 16.
"The women are all very excited about their visit and we're looking forward to making their experience in Petra an exciting one," said Haddad.
"It will give them the chance to learn more about Petra and get to know more about each other's cultures, which is what tourism is about," she added.
According to the JTB, a total of 18,475 votes were cast for the candidates who took part in the competition.
The JTB held a series of press activities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to promote the competition, which entailed contestants registering on the JTB website and setting up their own profile pages and discussion boards as well as uploading their photos.
One keen contestant had uploaded a picture of herself with Petra in the background.
Haddad said the majority of votes came from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as Belgium, Holland, Spain and Italy. The winners' names were announced during a press conference in Germany last week.
The JTB, the country's leading entity for marketing the Kingdom abroad, has been working hard to increase tourist traffic from the German market.
Haddad said Jordan has been pursuing aggressive marketing efforts in Germany, which is one of the largest growing outbound tourism markets in the world. This included launching a version of its website in the German language last year.
The number of German tourists to Jordan has steadily increased over the past three years, with a total 41,500 tourists visiting the ancient city of Petra last year, according to the JTB regional marketing coordinator.
Haddad said the idea for competition was inspired by a similar one carried out by the Ministry of Tourism in 1993 where 23 German women named Petra were invited to visit the ancient Nabataean site.
"The women were greeted by Queen Noor and tourism officials and there was a lot of excitement at the time," she noted.
"In fact, I came across some women during this campaign who recalled the competition in 1993 and said they had taken part. It was such a big thing for them so we decided to do it again," she added.
The JTB is currently finalising plans for the winners' trips and preparing for activities and press coverage during their visit.
By Dalya Dajani
© Jordan Times 2008
