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According to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the number of international visitors increased by 5.1% during the first nine months, while the number of overnight tourists reached approximately 4.6 million, an increase of 3.2% compared to the same period last year.
Data from the Central Bank of Jordan also showed an increase in tourism revenue by 2.9% during the first eight months, reaching approximately $5.6 billion, following a 5.3% decline during the first half of the year.
This shift holds special economic significance, as tourism is a primary source of foreign currency and a driver of economic activity in the transport, hotel, restaurant, trade, and service sectors, in addition to its role in providing job opportunities and stimulating local economies.
Arab markets played a pivotal role in supporting this recovery, with the number of Saudi tourists exceeding one million, a growth of 13%, while the number of Syrian tourists rose by 29.5% to exceed 600,000. These results underscore the importance of regional markets and their ability to mitigate the impact of declining tourism demand from distant foreign markets.
However, the picture is not entirely positive; the number of visitors to Petra during the first nine months of the current year decreased by 2.8%, while the percentage of foreign visitors to the site fell by about 17.8%, revealing the continued weakness of organized foreign tourism and confirming that growth in visitor numbers at the national level does not necessarily mean balanced improvement across various tourist sites.
Perhaps the real challenge in the tourism sector lies not only in increasing the number of tourists, but in maximizing the economic return per visitor by extending the length of stay, increasing average spending, diversifying tourism products, and expanding the benefits of tourism activity for governorates and local communities.
This requires regaining European and American markets, enhancing air connectivity, and developing religious, medical, cultural, and conference tourism, in addition to improving the data system to measure the impact of tourism on employment and value-added, rather than just visitor numbers and tourism revenue.
In summary, it can be said that the indicators for 2026 inspire cautious optimism, but they confirm that the success of the tourism sector must be measured by its ability to transform recovery into sustainable economic growth, productive job opportunities, and a greater contribution to achieving the goals of the Economic Modernization Vision and enhancing self-reliance.
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