Al-Suwair: The Return of European Flights Improves Tourism Movement in Petra
44 Thousand Visitors to the City Last Month
Amman3 min read
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About 43,901 visitors from various nationalities visited the archaeological city of Petra last September, recording an 8 percent decrease compared to September 2025, which recorded 47,658 visitors, according to data from the Archaeological Documentation and Tourism Research Center at the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority.
According to the authority's data, the tourist movement during the month was distributed with 21,995 foreign visitors, 3,560 Arab visitors, 17,136 Jordanian visitors, and 1,057 residents, while the average daily visit was about 1,463 visitors of various nationalities.
The number of foreign visitors during September was 21,995 visitors, compared to 25,931 visitors during the same month of 2025, a decrease of 15 percent.
Despite this decline, foreign tourism maintained a major presence in the tourist movement to Petra, where foreign visitors accounted for about 50 percent of the total visitors to the city during September.
The United States topped the list of foreign markets with 3,803 visitors, followed by Russia with 3,004 visitors, then Spain with 1,653, the United Kingdom with 1,437, and Germany with 1,178 visitors.
According to the visit indicators to Petra during the first nine months of the year, the total number of visitors was 362,215 visitors during 2026, compared to 372,779 visitors during the same period of 2025, a decrease of 2.8 percent.
The data showed that the number of foreign visitors was 184,387 visitors during the first nine months of 2026, compared to 224,296 visitors during the same period of 2025, a decrease of 17.8 percent, while the number of Jordanian visitors increased from 114,187 to 144,536 visitors, with a growth rate of 26.6 percent.
The number of Arab visitors also increased slightly, from 20,389 visitors during the first nine months of 2025 to 21,065 visitors during the same period of 2026, with a growth rate of about 3.3 percent.
The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority, Engineer Adnan Al-Suwair, said that the September figures reflect the continued demand to visit Petra, despite the challenges that affected the tourist movement during the past period.
Al-Suwair confirmed that the second half of the month witnessed a noticeable improvement in the number of visitors, coinciding with the return and regularization of flight movement, which reflected on the influx of tourists coming from international markets.
Al-Suwair explained that the diversity of tourist markets reaching Petra, led by the United States, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany, forms an important base for enhancing tourist movement, stressing the continuation of the authority in cooperation with the relevant parties in supporting the promotion of Petra and enhancing its presence on the global tourism map.
Al-Suwair pointed out the importance of continuing joint efforts with the parties concerned with the tourism and aviation sectors, and working to increase air links and support the flow of international visitors to Petra, due to its direct impact on tourist movement and the local economy in the region.
Data from last month showed a gradual improvement in international tourist movement during the last part of the month, coinciding with the return and regularization of flight movement, confirming the importance of air links in supporting the arrival of international tourists to Petra and enhancing the sustainability of tourist movement there.
