AFP, published Sunday 15 January 2023 at 08:07
Surrounded by his camels in Petra, the spectacular archaeological wonder in Jordan, nestled at the bottom of a desert gorge, Hussein Bdoul smiles: the tourists really are back.
After years of the Covid pandemic turning the fabled ‘Pink City’ into a ghost town, the father of seven is back at work offering visitors rides on his decorated animals.
“Tourism has started up again and the number (of tourists) is even higher,” says Bdoul, 35, dressed in a Bedouin costume and a red keffiyeh covering his long black hair.
“During the coronavirus pandemic, we didn’t see anyone in Petra,” Bdoul said. A disaster for the city where “90 percent of the residents work in tourism,” he says.
Jordan’s tourism authorities have confirmed the resumption of activity in this famous ancient city, which attracted 900,000 visitors last year, a figure close to the previous record of one million set in 2019.
Overall, Jordan welcomed 4.6 million visitors in 2022, nearly four times the 2020 level, and grossed the country US$5.3 billion.
Nestled between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, where influences of ancient Eastern traditions and Hellenistic architecture mingle, Petra is famous for its magnificent temples carved into pink cliffs.
Listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in an online poll in 2007.
They date from around 300 BC. JC, the city was the capital of the Nabatean kingdom.
The site of Petra is rich in tombs and temples carved into the pink sandstone cliffs, earning it the nickname “Pink City”.
This ancient city remained unknown in the West until it was discovered by a Swiss explorer in 1812.
– “Sigh of Relief” –
“This place and the colors are amazing,” says a French student, Alia, 16, who pauses from her discoveries to visit a souvenir stand with her mother.
About 1,700 people make a living from tourism in Petra as tourist guides, souvenir sellers or by showing tourists around the site on donkeys, horses, camels or even electric wheelchairs.
“We breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the tourists coming back,” says a young drink vendor, Muhammad Samahin, seated on woven mats in the Moon Cave near the famous treasury.
For Suleiman Farajat, head of Petra’s Regional Development and Tourism Authority, the return of tourism after the pandemic has surpassed all expectations.
At the peak of the pandemic, Petra, which is 230 km south of the Jordanian capital Amman, had “days when there were no tourists”.
The revival of tourism has been supported by official advertising campaigns to open up new foreign markets, but also by offers for cheap airline tickets and the provision of new hotel rooms, explains Mr. Farajat.
Petra, he said, now has 4,000 hotel rooms and permits have been granted for the construction of three new five-star hotels, which means capacity will soon nearly double since 2019.
“If this continues, within three to four years we could reach the threshold of two million tourists to Petra per year,” said this Jordanian official.