Hotels reach 54 percent capacity in Aqaba

The percentage of reservations in Aqaba hotels reached 54 percent, while the percentage of reservations in 5-star hotels reached 91 percent, according to statistics released Friday. 

The Commissioner for Tourism and Environment at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, Dr. Nidal Al-Majali, said that the high rate of reservations came due to the return of Jordanian expatriates.

Majali added that 400,000 nights were booked in Aqaba hotels during the first half of this year, an increase of 18.3 percent over the same period last year.

And he indicated that King Hussein International Airport received about 1,400 air traffic between landing and departure in the first half of this year.

He expected that Aqaba will record additional numbers of visitors in the coming months, as the city of Aqaba will host the (SOFEX) International Exhibition with wide global participation and large hotel reservations that extend for 3 weeks.

He stressed that the area of Wadi Rum welcomed about 7,000 visitors during Eid al-Adha, and the total that reached Wadi Rum in the past six months exceeded 117,000, in addition to the entry of visitors from the southern Durra crossing with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and thousands of foreign nationalities in the past period.

Majali stressed the authority's keenness to enable the infrastructure, facilities and hotels in the coastal tourist city, to upgrade the services provided.

He pointed out that an agreement was signed on Thursday with the Energy Promotion Fund at the Ministry of Energy to support 10 hotels in Aqaba to rationalize energy consumption by 60 percent, to reflect on reducing the price of hotel rooms. Adventure tourism.