Jordan Tours and News

 AMMAN — Tourism Minister Majd Shweikeh on Wednesday announced the first Arab Forum for Tourism Investment, which will be held on March 14, 2020 under the patronage of Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, with the aim of promoting investments in the sector, increasing growth and attracting more tourists.

 AMMAN — “Amman the 28 country I have visted, Jordan is the best so far thanks to the hospitality of Jordanians,” Moroccan traveller Yasin Allam said on Monday. Allam, 33, who arrived in Jordan on September 21, said that he visited 27 African countries before Jordan during a trip that took him three years on his bicycle.

 AMMAN — The settlement in Jerash (Gerasa) during the Middle Islamic period was much more extensive and complex than hitherto thought, said a Danish archaeologist.

 AMMAN — Known locally as Khatt Shebib, Jordan’s own “great wall” is the second-longest structure built by humans next to the Great Wall of China, according to a Jordanian scholar.

 AMMAN — Petra is expected to celebrate 1 million visitors this year to its captivating attractions in early December, Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) said on Wednesday.

 AMMAN — Middle Islamic pottery is an understudied subject and until recently no comprehensive typology existed for pottery from this period, according to an American archaeologist.

 AMMAN — During 2019, Petra witnessed unprecedented trourist activity, ending the year with a record number of 1,135,300 visitors of all nationalities, an increase of 37 per cent compared with 2018.

 AMMAN — World War I marks the beginning of using aerial photography in archaeology, as cameras and airplanes improved rapidly during the war, according to a British researcher.

 AMMAN — Khirbet Al Umari is an archaeological site, located 25km southeast of Azraq. It was already in a sadly ruined state when famous archaeologist Nelson Glueck visited it in the 1940s, and was severely disturbed in more recent years by looting and vandalism, noted a Dutch archaeologist.

 AMMAN — Sixty-three cruise ships docked at the port of Aqaba in 2019, bringing 120,000 tourists; an increase of five ships and 9,000 tourists from 2018, according to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA).

 AMMAN — During the fourth millennium BC, a new culture appeared in the southern Levant, with a “pronounced” attitude towards adapting the so-called “Mediterranean diet” based on grapes and olive tree cultivation to different ecological niches, said an Italian archaeologist.

 AMMAN — Excavations at a Late Neolithic site in north-western Jordan revealed the existence of an agrarian society in which pottery held a key role, a Canadian archaeologist has said.

 AMMAN — Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh and Prague top Jordanians preferred destinations during this holiday season, according to travel agencies.

 AMMAN — The irrigation system in the terraced gardens of the Black Desert, according to scholars, was probably the outcome of an indigenous (basalt desert) technology, which was also discovered at the earlier sites like Tulul Al Ghusayn, Khirbet Al Jabariya and Khirbet Abu Al Husayn, said a German archaeologist.

 AMMAN — Even in ancient times, people already had an effect on the environment by cutting wood for fires and by letting goats and sheep graze around the villages, which caused erosion of the landscape, said an archaeologist specialising in the topic.

 AMMAN — The number of visitors to the Baptism Site, recorded at more than 170,000 through November of this year, has almost tripled in the last four years, according to the commission that oversees the site.

 AMMAN — Scholars were unsure about the exact foundation date of the four-kilometre-long city wall in Jerash (ancient Gerasa), noted an Australian archaeology professor.

 AMMAN — Marble statues found in 2017 probably decorated the Great Eastern Baths in Jerash, said a German scholar.

 AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) on Sunday celebrated Feynan Ecolodge receiving the “Golden Award” at the World Travel Market (WTM) Travel and Tourism Awards 2019 in the category of reducing carbon and other greenhouse gases.

 AMMAN — Tucked away in a hidden corner of Jabal Amman, the Amman Design Week’s Crafts District offered its visitors design installations, exhibitions, shops, and a cultural programme in the Kabariti Village.

 AMMAN — International agreements to protect and promote intangible cultural heritage (ICH) have only recently become an incentive for Jordan, according to a Jordanian expert.

 AMMAN — The Human Rights Film Festival “Karama” is holding its 10th edition under the slogan “Think Forward” from December 5-12 at the Royal Cultural Centre in Amman.

 AMMAN — Official statistics issued by the Airport International Group revealed that Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) received 1,053,225 passengers (PAX) during August 2019, indicating a 5.1 per cent surge set against the same month last year.

 AMMAN — Ancient inscriptions found in the Eastern Desert reveal relations between Nabateans and bedouin tribes and depict daily life as well as major political events, wars and revolts, said a Jordanian scholar.

 AMMAN — The abundance of water in Wadi Al Zarqa enabled the region around archaeological site of eh-Sayyeh to establish a “very attractive” settlement area, according to a German scholar.

 AMMAN — Sales of a unified ticket designated for tourist areas in Jordan have increased during the first eight months of this year, according to Tourism Ministry official figures.

 AMMAN — In the Mamluk period, some of the most politically dangerous persons went to Karak Castle, said an American scholar.

 AMMAN — Aqaba is expected to celebrate 1 million tourists by the end of 2019, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) said on Tuesday.

 AMMAN — European interest in cartography of the Levant dates back to at least the 16th century, according to a Swiss researcher.

 AMMAN — The Azraq region appears to have been a magnet for human settlement in the Epipalaeolithic period, which dates back 20,000 to 10,000 years.