Tourism revenues increased by 24 per cent May 2010 compared to the same month the year before, official figures revealed on Sunday.
According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Tourism , revenues generated by the sector last month stood at JD188 million, compared to JD151 million in May 2009.
The figures also indicated that tourism revenues in the first five months of the year witnessed a 30 per cent growth, reaching JD887 million, compared to JD682 million in the January-May period of 2009.
The number of visitors also went up from 526,882 tourists in May 2009 to 629,463 last month, a 20 per cent rise.
Some 351,715 tourists spent one night or more in the country last month, a 28 per cent rise compared to May 2009, when the figure stood at 274,910.
Of the total overnight visitors, 114,885 were non-Arab foreigners, 95,196 were Jordanians living abroad, 86,988 came from non-Arab Gulf countries and 54,646 from Arab Gulf states.
Meanwhile, the number of same-day tourists increased by 10 per cent to 277,748, compared to 251,792 in the same comparative period, according to ministry figures.
The ministry report revealed that a majority of the Kingdom’s tourist sites witnessed an increase in visitors in May, except for Umm Qais, which registered a 12 per cent drop, with 15,620 tourists visiting the site in May 2010, compared to 17,831 in May last year.
Wadi Rum witnessed the highest rise in the number of tourists, registering 33,110 visitors in May 2010, an 84 per cent increase compared to May 2009, when 17,978 tourists visited the site.
