Jordan News

 AMMAN — Jordan Motorsport has confirmed there will be a strong regional flavour to the official entry lists for this week’s inaugural Jordan Baja, the Kingdom’s first cross-country rally to run since 1990, according to the Jordan Motorsport Media Service.

The Tourism Ministry on Saturday allowed some 300 restaurants and cafés to serve hookah without issuing fines against them provided that they rectify their status by December 31.

In case of exceeding the given period, legal actions will be taken against the establishments in accordance with the law, the ministry noted.

 Jordan is generally considered a carefree country with very few rules and regulations, but as in any Arab country, there are still certain cultural norms you should be aware of. Here’s a list of things to bear in mind while travelling to this beautiful nation.

AMMAN — Tourism Minister Lina Annab is scheduled to head Jordan’s delegation to the 41st session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

Annab said that the session’s agenda includes nominating Salt’s historical town, 35km northwest of Amman, to be listed as a world heritage site.

 AMMAN — Moving away from the traditional fundraising techniques, the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF)  is organising “Steps for Life”, an initiative that gives citizens the opportunity to support the treatment of underprivileged patients at the King Hussein Cancer Centre’s (KHCC) by engaging in an entertaining and healthy  hiking experience.

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Water and Irrigation Minister Hazem Nasser on Wednesday opened the Jordan Food Exhibition 2017, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The five-day fair, which is held at the Expo Land near airport, is organised by the International Promoters Company (IPCO), in cooperation with Amman Chamber of Industry, the Islamic International Arab Bank and Giant Industrial Group.

 AMMAN — The European Film Festival will kick off in Amman on Wednesday, and will be screening 19 movies. It will also launch a competition for local filmmakers.

AMMAN —The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Tuesday announced that Al Hussein Park will close during the Amman Summer Festival from July 6 until July 15, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The decision is intended to facilitate the movement of vehicles and pedestrians inside the park, except for visitors to the Royal Automobile Museum.

 Jerash, considered an important Roman and Byzantine city, is slowly revealing its role during the Early Islamic period.

AMMAN — The Amman Summer Festival is expected to start on Thursday night at the main stage of Al Hussein Park, The 10-day festival will be held for the 11th year, in four locations inside the park.

Tourism revenues rose by 12.7 per cent during the first ten months of this year to around $3.9 billion, up from $2.4 billion generated during the same period in 2016, the Central Bank of Jordan said.

AMMAN — The Children Museum Jordan on Wednesday announced that it reached the final round of the 2017 Children Museums Award, for its project titled “Mobile Museum of Children”.

The announcement came after a jury meeting of the Children in Museums Award in Amsterdam in late June, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jordan this year witnessed an increase in the number of overnight religious tourists from countries targeted by promotion efforts, an official said on Wednesday.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Sanaa Asem on Wednesday attended the opening ceremony of the 23rd Shabib Festival at the Roman Theatre in Amman, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The festival’s Higher Executive Committee President Sharifa Budur Bint Asem, said that the festival has succeeded in delivering its message of diversity in arts and culture.

AMMAN — The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) on Monday launched a campaign to promote tourism in the city of Amman, under the title “#Amman24”, which has triggered tremendous enthusiasm among a diversified audience worldwide, thanks to effective interaction by social media influencers.

Dating back to the second century, Roman Amphitheater speaks to the period of Roman rule over Amman, when the city was known as Philadelphia. The construction of the 6,000-seat amphitheater into the hillside at a steep angle kept the sun off spectators and created excellent acoustics, which enabled audience members even at the top seat to hear people in the arena.

Tourism Minister Lina Annab announced that the first regional conference on “Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa [MENA]: Competitiveness for Sustainable Growth”, will be held on November 13 and 14 at the Grand Hyatt Amman Hotel.

Jordan's capital city, Amman spreads across 19 hills and includes many distinct districts, each with their own historical and cultural marvels. The topography of the city adds to the sense of eclecticism and discovery, with hidden areas and surprises lying out of sight and ready to be explored.

 Insulated in the desert wilderness of southern Jordan, bedouins of Wadi Rum, 330km south of Amman, still preserve customs and traditions that benefit their harsh habitat.

A close second to Petra on the list of favourite destinations in Jordan is the ancient city of Jerash, which boasts an unbroken chain of human occupation dating back more than 6,500 years.

Jerash lies on a plain surrounded by hilly wooded areas and fertile basins. Conquered by General Pompey in 63 BC, it came under Roman rule and was one of the ten great Roman cities of the Decapolis League. 

 The drop in the level of the Dead Sea is causing grave concerns among environmentalists and planners in the region, with most of the drop caused by diversion in the headwaters feeding the sea, a geologist has said.

Among Jordanians, the city of Jerash is famous for its high quality, fresh dairy products, which are still prepared using traditional methods. 

Visitors to Jerash often purchase Labaneh Jarashiyeh, a kind of strained yoghurt, which is a signature product of the city, 48km north of Amman. 

AMMAN — “Unfamiliar” tourist sites around the Kingdom can be promoted as providing visual experiences and opportunities for interaction with local residents through new marketing campaigns, representatives from the tourism sector said on Tuesday.

In an article posted recently on Middle East social news website www.stepfeed.com, 14 tourist attractions around Jordan “that aren’t Petra, Amman, and the Dead Sea” were promoted.

 A “first-of-its-kind” Hellenistic temple in the Levant region has been discovered in Umm Qais, an archaeologist said on Monday.

An archaeological excavation team from Yarmouk University has recently discovered a Hellenistic temple and network of water tunnels, Atef Sheyyab, president of the archaeology department at the university told the Jordan Times.

To say Little Petra is a long way off the tourist trail is an understatement. To get there we drive past the tourist police’s outpost, turn left and off-road alongside ancient, dried riverbeds and finally up a sand dune into the lee of a red sandstone cliff.

The only other people sleeping out under the stars are a few shepherds

Jordanian archaeologists have discovered an ancient temple that was built in the Hellenistic era in the third century BC. 

The archaeologists believe that the temple, located 120 kilometres north of the capital, Amman, was dedicated to Poseidon, the Ancient Greek god of seas.

Amman, northern Jordan is home to other ancient cities of the Decapolis. These include Jarash (Gerasa), Umm Qays (Gadara), Tabaqat Fahl or Fihil (Pella), Bayt Ras (Capitolias), and Quwayliba (Abila). Jarash, straddling one of the ancient world's key trade routes, offers extensive and breathtaking ruins of colonnaded streets, arches, temples, and baths in a remarkable state of preservation and completeness.

AMMAN —Tourism Minister Lina Annab said that the number of tourists to the Kingdom in the first five months of the year increased by 10.5 per cent, compared with the same period of last year.

A total of 2.6 million tourists visited Jordan until the end of this year’s May, compared with 1.864 million visitors to the country in the same period of 2016. 

AMMAN — The Second Janet Abu Lughod seminar, organised by Studio-X Amman and Sijal Institute for Arabic Language and Culture was a “wonderful opportunity to engage deeply with a diverse and bright group of participants in Amman on the singular topic of Qusayr Amra”, said Khaled Malas, a PhD candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. 

The Greater Amman Municipality’s (GAM) Al Hussein Parks has been receiving around 2,000 visitors every day since the fasting month of Ramadan started, while King Abdullah II Park in Muqabalein has been receiving around 1,000 visitors daily, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Amman, northern Jordan is home to other ancient cities of the Decapolis. These include Jarash (Gerasa), Umm Qays (Gadara), Tabaqat Fahl or Fihil (Pella), Bayt Ras (Capitolias), and Quwayliba (Abila). Jarash, straddling one of the ancient world's key trade routes, offers extensive and breathtaking ruins of colonnaded streets, arches, temples, and baths in a remarkable state of preservation and completeness.

Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani on Tuesday said that the Tourism Ministry’s instructions allow tourist facilities to work during Ramadan and provide services without violating the “sanctity” of the fasting month.

Muslims abstain from food and drink during Ramadan from dawn until after sunset.

Residents of Wadi Rum have complained of Tourism Ministry’s ban on tourists’ trips to their area, insisting that the area is safe for guests and unaffected by tribal protests over the Jafer case.

The Ministry of Tourism on Saturday instructed tour operators not to take tourists to Wadi Rum, according to a ministry document obtained by The Jordan Times on Monday.

Jordan’s tourism sector has witnessed a “considerable and promising” increase in the number of visitors since the beginning of the year, particularly from Asian countries, an official said in a recent interview.

The number of overall tourists reached 1.639 million visitors during the first four months of this year, compared to nearly 1.457 million over the same period last year, registering a 12.5 per cent growth, said Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) Managing Director Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat.

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) said on Sunday that the kingdom saw a rise in tourism revenues by 14.5% during the first half of the year to a total of $2.1 billion.

In a press release, the CBJ attributed the rise in the sector’s income to the growth in the number of tourists by 9.9% year-on-year.

Last year marked another successful year for Jordanian tourism, with UK visitor numbers rising by seven per cent, compared to 2015, with Britain remaining the largest European source market for the Hashemite Kingdom.

The launch of the ExtraJORDANary campaign, in spring 2016, contributed to the positive arrival figures as travellers where able to book holidays through several new tour operators.