Jordan Tours and News

 AMMAN — Iron Age imports from Egypt, Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria and Assyria indicate complex economic and political relations between Moab and the major powers in the region, according to a Canadian scholar.

 AMMAN — Excavations take time, money, planning, cooperation, conservation and publishing, said Director of the American Centre of Oriental Research (ACOR) Barbara Porter at a presentation on the Petra Church and the Temple of the Winged Lions on Monday.

 AMMAN — Visitors to the rose-red city of Petra rose by 44 per cent, or some 128,000 people, when comparing the first five months of 2019 with 2018, Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) Managing Director Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat said on Tuesday.

 AMMAN — Khirbet Ataruz, located around 30 kilometres southwest of Madaba, represented an early Iron Age II temple with two building phases, according to a US archaeologist.

 AMMAN — Hundreds of Jordanians released balloons filled with messages of hope at the Amman Citadel on Sunday for a ceremony marking World Population Day.

 AMMAN — The Kingdom welcomed 615,955 foreign visitors by the end of May, 76 per cent of which were overnight visitors, the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) said on Sunday.

 AMMAN — For the first time since 2007, Royal Jordanian (RJ) registered JD3.4 million profit from continuing operations in the first half of 2019 against JD11.1 million loss for the same period in 2018 and a net profit of JD1.5 million, according to RJ CEO Stefan Pichler.

 AMMAN — Jordan’s award-winning vocal ensemble Mosaica Singers put on a thrilling performance Thursday night at the Terra Santa College Theatre. It was the opening event in the series of three performances held over the weekend.

 AMMAN — New finds at Tell Deir Alla in the Jordan Valley contradict previously published results that the north side of the site was used for cultic purposes, according to a Jordanian archaeologist.

 AMMAN — An intricate mosaic medallion and marble capitals unearthed in a building in Shuqayra Al Gharbiyya, near Karak, speak to the wealth of the building’s original inhabitants, a Jordanian scholar recently told The Jordan Times.

 AMMAN — The number of visitors arriving in Jordan during June rose by 26.5 per cent to some 455,383 people, whereas the number of overnight visitors reached 393,761 people, rising by 26.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

 AMMAN — The latest excavations of ancient Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the Jordan Valley uncovered beautiful art tools from a large stone building that archaeologists believe was the ruler’s palace, according to an Australian scholar.

 AMMAN — The early adaption of an ancient heating system by the Nabataeans point to an outward-facing society, according to a Canadian archaeologist.

 AMMAN — In spite of the widespread destruction of cultural heritage, a team of experts and interns recently finished digitising a private photo archive as part of a bid to save Jordan’s records and provide people with a resource to study the country’s history.

 AMMAN — Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) welcomed 804,153 passengers in April, a 10.6 per cent increase over last year’s numbers for the same period, according to a statement from the Airport International Group on Monday.

 AMMAN — Jordan has an abundance of sites filled with Roman wall paintings adorning temples and necropolises, but paintings from later periods are often only found in fragments, according to a Polish conservator.

 AMMAN — Deputising for HRH Crown Prince Hussein, the Regent, Culture and Youth Minister Mohammad Abu Rumman on Friday attended the launch of activities by Al Hussein Camps for Work and Construction 2019 in Aqaba.

 AMMAN — Aqaba welcomed over 72,000 visitors from all around the Kingdom during the Eid Al Fitr holiday, Sharhabeel Madi, commissioner for economic development and investment affairs at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), said on Sunday.

 AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Thursday inaugurated the 34th Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

 AMMAN — “Collecting artefacts is a part of our nature, it is after all a human trait”, said Jordanian archaeologist and museum specialist Arwa Badran.

 AMMAN — The Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Chief Commissioner Suleiman Farajat on Sunday said the number of visitors to Petra increased by approximately 33 per cent during May, compared with the same period last year.

 AMMAN — A Nubian Nightjar bird was spotted late last month nesting for the first time in Fifa Nature Reserve (FNR), the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) said on Wednesday.

 AMMAN — Denouncing the misrepresentation of Jordanian life and culture in films, many aspiring local directors and actors are striving to break the mould by zooming in on an accurate display of daily life in the Kingdom.

 AMMAN — During an excavation work carried out by the German-Danish team in Jerash, remains of a building constructed on the bedrock and destroyed by the earthquake in 749AD were found.

 AMMAN — Deputising for Her Majesty Queen Rania, Minister of Social Development Basma Ishaqat on Wednesday inaugurated the Bint Bladi Expo in support of productive Jordanian women.

 AMMAN — The Jerash Tourism Directorate has picked the locations of three new tourism trails planned to open this summer, according to the head of the directorate.

 AMMAN — Direct flights that will be operated between Aqaba and Egypt and will contribute to increasing the number of visitors to Aqaba, an official said on Sunday.

 AMMAN — Tourism revenues have increased by 8.3 per cent during the first half of this year, reaching $2.6 billion (some JD1.9 billion) compared with $2.4 billion registered in the same period last year, according to preliminary data released by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) on Monday.

 AMMAN — Wadi Hammeh 27, located 2 kilometres north of Pella, represents one of the largest and most complex Natufian base-camps in the southern Levant, an Australian archaeologist has said.

 AMMAN — In a recent conference held at Brooklyn University, New York, Jordanian architect Salam Adayleh discussed her project of “bringing old cities back to life”.