One of the biggest tourist attractions in Jordan is its sole Red Sea Port town of Aqaba, which has registered a very strong growth in tourist arrivals in 2022 and is counting on the boom to continue well into 2023 as well.

Jordan’s Red Sea Port of Aqaba received 1.9 million tourists and visitors during the first 11 months of 2022, according to the Commissioner for Tourism and Environment in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Nidal Majali. According to a media report, Majali noted that this marks a 138.8 pc increase from last year, during which 793,000 tourists and visitors entered Aqaba, through various border crossings.

The year 2022 also recorded around 930,000 bookings in Aqaba’s hotels and around 300,000 bookings in Wadi Rum, marking a 48 pc and a 212.7 pc increase respectively, compared with 2021, Majali added.

The Tourism Commissioner also said that the King Hussein International Airport at Aqaba recorded 3,226 aircraft movements, marking a roughly 125 pc increase from 2021.

“These numbers are indicative of an excellent growth in the tourism sector,” he told a local media in Jordan. Both cruise ships and low-cost carries continue to arrive non-stop at the Aqaba Port and King Hussein International Airport, according to Majali.

“However, hotels’ occupancy rates are somewhat humble during this time of the year, which coincides with the Christmas and holiday season as people prefer to spend it at home with their families,” he added.

Moreover, Majali said that the beginning of the new year is expected to witness a 51 pc increase in hotels’ occupancy rates in Aqaba.

So far, as many as 96 cruise ships confirmed their arrival in Aqaba’s port in 2023, marking a 25 pc increase compared with 2022, which received 74 cruise ships so far, he added.