AMMAN - The tourism sector generated JD1.115 billion in revenues in the first seven months of this year, according to figures recently released by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ).
The CBJ figures indicated that tourism revenues increased by 2.3 per cent compared to the same period of 2008, when revenues stood at JD1.09 billion.
Meanwhile, official figures released by the Ministry of Tourism revealed that the number of overnight stays between January and July increased by 4 per cent, with 2,075,190 visitors spending the night in 2009, compared to 1,998,482 in the same span last year.
The number of one-day visitors also increased from 1,758,998 to 1,830,010, the ministry said.
According to the ministry's statistics department, the rise in the number of tourists this year is due to the increase in visitors from Arab countries and Jordanian expatriates, who constituted 73 per cent of all arrivals the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, efforts to attract more visitors from India are under way, according to Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) Director General Nayef Fayez, who noted that 17,000 Indian tourists came to the Kingdom in the first seven months of this year.
In 2008, 38,000 Indian nationals visited the Kingdom.
He said this year's figure is "satisfactory" in light of the global financial crisis, noting that the JTB opened an office in New Delhi as part of a long-term strategy to attract the emerging market.
Earlier this year, the government adopted several measures to mitigate the impact of the global downturn on the tourism sector, easing visa requirements for Indian and Chinese visitors.
Under the new measures, citizens of India and China, nations with a combined population of over two billion, no longer have to apply for a visa at Jordanian embassies in their countries.
Groups travelling to Jordan through tour operators can enter the Kingdom without a visa, while individuals still have to apply for a visa before coming to Jordan, but the procedure will be much simpler, JTB Deputy Director General Fayez Khouri told The Jordan Times earlier this year.
© Jordan Times 2009
