Jordan tourism authorities confirm that Petra is back in business and drew 900,000 visitors last year, close to the record of one million set in 2019.
Camels sit awaiting tourists outside the site of the Treasury at the ruins of the ancient Nabatean city of Petra in southern Jordan on December 12, 2022. Khalil Mazraawi/ AFP
"Tourism has returned and the numbers are even greater," said Bdoul, 35, wearing Bedouin garb with a red keffiyeh scarf over his long black hair, reflecting on a resurgence last year. Top draw Petra, famous for its stunning temples hewn out of the rose-pink cliff faces, is a United Nations World Heritage site and was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a 2007 online poll.
Around 1,700 people make a living from Petra as tour guides, trinket sellers or by taking visitors through the site on donkeys, horses, camels or electric buggies. At the height of the pandemic, "there were days when there were no tourists" in Petra, located 230 kilometers south of the capital Amman.
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