Jordan News

The Eastern Mediterranean and the Biladi Sham, also known as the Greater Syria, regions were linked to other regions through trade routes, according to an American historian who specialises in the history of mediaeval Muslim states and their fiscal policies.

Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh on Wednesday inaugurated the 36th Jerash Festival in the northern theatre in the ancient Greco-Roman city of Jerash, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

His Majesty King Abdullah, accompanied by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, visited the archaeological site at Umm Al Jimal in the Northern Badia region on Wednesday.

This year’s return of the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF) will continue to highlight debut achievements in film from around the world, with a focus on Arab cinema. 

The site of Tell Deir ‘Alla, in the central Jordan Valley, was a settlement during the 13th century BC and functioned as a town, noted a Jordanian archaeologist.

Almost 25,000 Jordanians have booked their flights and are planning to travel out of the country during Eid Al Adha, according to tourism sector representatives. 

2-Day Tour Petra, Wadi Rum, and Dead Sea from Amman is a Travelers' Choice Award winner

Petra hotels continue to attract interest from foreign investors, thanks to the investment incentives granted to investors in the hospitality industry, Chairman of Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Board of Commissioners Suleiman Farajat said on Tuesday.

Proof of health insurance that covers medical treatment for COVID-19 is no longer required to enter Jordan. Based on the recommendations of the National Epidemiological Committee, Minister of Interior and acting Minister of Health Mazen Faraya on Wednesday decided that travel medical insurance that covers medical treatment for COVID-19 is no longer required for arrivals to the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Tourism on Wednesday marked the International Museum Day (IMD), which falls on May 18. The ministry's celebrations entailed the reopening of a museum at the lowest point on Earth, after seeing renovation works, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Royal Jordanian (RJ) has renewed the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registration for the year 2022, which means that the company meets the IATA set safety and quality standards and can maintains its long-standing IATA membership, according to a statement from the national carrier.

Tourism revenues in the first two months of 2022 increased by $306.3 million to $462.3 million, marking an increase of 196.5 per cent compared with the same period of 2021, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities mentioned in a decleration that Tafileh's Afra Hot Springs has begun receiving visitors. The ministry highlighted efforts towards updating the site's base to be placed on the Jordanian tourism map.

 Where to travel in 2022: It's safe to say most people didn't take their dream vacation in 2021. Here are some places to dream about for when the world becomes accessible again. First up: the twin islands of Antigua (pictured) and Barbuda.

Saraya Aqaba celebrates Christmas season every weekend until January, Jordanians and tourists celebrate the occasion at its Beach Club, which is decorated and adorned with Christmas lights. 

Polish ambassador speaks about potential for trade, tourism, humanitarian cooperation with Jordan,

 AMMAN — The Kingdom’s tourism revenue increased by 14.3 per cent in the first eight months of 2021 to JD958.8 million compared with the same period of 2020 that witnessed a decline of 70 per cent, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) announced on Wednesday.

AMMAN — Recent fieldwork at the vast desert region in north-eastern Jordan has revealed an immensely rich heritage of an area that is difficult to access and archaeologically less known, according to a Dutch archaeologist.

 AMMAN — Airport International Group (AIG) revealed that Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) welcomed 1,233,484 passengers (PAX) during the first half of 2021, marking a 20.9 per cent and 70.3 per cent decline against 2020 and 2019 figures, respectively.

 AMMAN — Stakeholders in the tourism sector have welcomed the government’s three-stage plan to reopen closed sectors after months of pandemic-induced closures.

 AMMAN — The Centre for the Promotion of Imports (CBI), an agency in the Netherlands funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has announced a project to support the Jordanian tourism industry for a period of four years. 

 AMMAN — UNESCO project “Employment Opportunities for Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in Jordan” aims to invest in cultural heritage preservation while creating short-term job opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians, according to Giorgia Cesaro, senior project officer.

 AMMAN — Integrated Water Conservation and Management Project at the Yarmouk Nature Reserve, through a participatory process, aims at conserving the natural water ecosystem, according to the project manager.

 AMMAN — World Wildlife Day, which falls on March 3, this year celebrates forest-based livelihoods and seek to promote forest wildlife management models and practices that accommodate both human well-being and the long-term conservation of forests.

 AMMAN — Ayla is now recognised as a global tourism destination on global travel platform TripAdvisor for travellers looking for a one-stop experience in Aqaba.

 Jordan has been recognised for its amazing attractions and experiences in the latest Lonely Planet Ultimate Travel List, released today, with four of the country’s sights making the list in total. The spectacular sandstone ancient city of Petra has been named as the number one bucket list experience in the world, with Jordan’s otherworldly rose-sand Wadi Rum desert, the Dead Sea and its natural healing powers, and the beautiful Dana Biosphere Reserve also making the list.

 Global travel authority Lonely Planet has unveiled a radical reimagining of its much-anticipated Best in Travel picks for 2021, reflecting an unprecedented year of disruption in the travel industry, and Amman, Jordan has been singled out as one of the destinations which are helping transform travel experiences. 

 Jordan private tours and travel is proud to announce the winning of 2020 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Award winner.

 Jordan is a nation rich with history and excellence. Since they are so iconic, Jordan visits unavoidably include a visit to the Dead Sea and Petra; however, guests likewise have astonishment by the stunning global food plans of Amman and the modern urban areas they can visit. Though small, the nation has been at the focal point of the absolute most noteworthy exchange courses for quite a long time. The Roman, Greek, Persian, Nabataean, and Byzantine Empires have all ruled over this zone, each adding special and fabulous ancient rarities that you can, in any case, discover, which means history lovers will discover bounty to write.

 All domestic tourism destinations are now open at full capacity for locals and expatriates residing in Jordan, COVID-19 is being effectively monitored, controlled and treated in Jordan.

 (Jordan - Sunday, July 5th The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced today that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has awarded Jordan the “Safe Travels Stamp” thanks to Jordan’s health safety protocols that were deemed to be in line with the Council’s standards, which makes Jordan a safe destination for Travel & Tourism.

 AMMAN — The Museum of Jordanian Heritage (MJH), initiated by Yarmouk University in Irbid in 1988, aims to present the social history of not only Jordan, but also the region since the dawn of civilisation, said a Jordanian scholar.

 AMMAN — The Aqaba Bird Observatory (ABO) has registered sightings of the migratory oystercatcher, which is locally considered a rare bird.

 AMMAN — During late antiquity, wealthy women often travelled from western parts of the Roman Empire to visit holy sites and shrines in the Levant and Egypt, according to an 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 — 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 — Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh and Prague top Jordanians preferred destinations during this holiday season, according to travel agencies.

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

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

 “The first map which I detected as showing the exact location of Petra, including an abbreviated view of the city surrounded by mountains, was the one in Palazzo Colonna in Rome,” noted Ulrich Bellwald in a recent e-mail interview with The Jordan Times, adding that the map was drawn by Bartolomeo Bonomi in 1572.

 The map is called “Portolano del Mediterraneo” (“Mediterranean ports”) and the commissioner of the work was Marcantonio Colonna (1534-84), an Italian aristocrat serving the Spanish Crown, Bellwald said.

 As Bartolomeo Bonomi was an illustrator and engraver, rather than a surveyor or an engineer, the scholar said he wondered which models Bonomi would have used for creating the map.

 Colonna was an admiral in the battle of Lepanto, a naval engagement that took place in 1571, in which a coalition of European Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, Bellwald thinks these models “would most probably have come from the Ottoman side”.

 The scholar referenced “Kitab-i-Bahriye” (The Book of Navigation) by Hadji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, saying that its first edition was printed in 1521, and its second shortly after, in 1525.

 After finding the original cartographic drawings in an archive in Istanbul, he said he was sure that Bonomi used Piri’s maps as models for his own Portolano at the Palazzo Colonna, not only copying the size and shape of the maps, but also the surveying lines, locations and names of the port and other cities.

 Piri’s work did not only show the most important ports, but also depicted cities in the hinterland, such as Petra and Damascus, Bellwald said, adding that it must have been rather easy for either Bonomi or Colonna to get a copy of Piri’s book as “there were numerous copies in the great libraries all over Europe”.

 When the Swiss orientalist Johann Ludwig Burckhardt famously rediscovered Petra in 1812, the name and location of the ancient Nabatean city was already known to a large group of well-educated people in Europe, he stressed.

 The third edition of Piri’s book, which gained even more popularity, included newer maps from Italian geographers Battista Agnese and Jacopo Gastaldi, and Dutch geographer Abraham Ortelius, Bellwald said, adding that this shows that there was a well-organised cooperation between Ottoman and Western scholars.

 The scholar also said that the findings infer that “the rediscovery of Petra by Burckhardt in 1812 was not purely occasional, but he went to the area of Wadi Musa with the knowledge that Petra must be located there”.

 Source: www.jordantimes.com

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

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

 AMMAN — A total of 657,918 tourists of various nationalities have visited Petra in the first eight months of 2019, compared with 507,299 visitors during the same period of 2018, marking a 30 per cent increase.

 AMMAN — Khirbet Jazzir, some four kilometres southwest from Salt, was mentioned in scholarly literature as biblical site Jazer, according to a German archaeologist.