Petra, Jordan | Recorded its Highest Single - Day Visitor Count Since 2023

Petra, iconic, ancient Nabatean city located in southern Jordan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, renowned for its unique features with its monumental architecture, carved directly into the rose - red sandstone walls, making it  an incomparable testament to the engineering and artistic ingenuity of the Nabatean civilization,  rediscovered by Swiss Explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812, recently recorded its highest single - day visitor count since 2023 with a total of 3.986 visitors on a single day in late December 2025.

The recent increase in visitors’ numbers is attributed to factors like intensive tourism promotion, improved services, and enhanced safety measures at the site.  

This exceptional figure, dominated by international tourists, signals a strong recovery for Jordan’s tourism sector, highlighting Petra, as Jordan’s top tourist destination and symbol of national identity, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year for its historical value, natural beauty, and aura of ancestral mystery of an emblematic centre probably founded in the fourth century BCE,  elevating itself in that era as a thriving trading hub in the Middle East that controlled relevant caravan routes connecting Arabia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean basin. 

The record - breaking day saw a diverse influx of tourists: 

•    International tourists: 3.273 
•    Arab visitors: 139
•    Jordanians: 79 
•    Residents: 45

Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Chairman Fares Breizat noted that the largest group of visitors included Italians with 736 tourists, followed by Russians with 404, Spaniards with 373, Americans with 361, French with 229 and British with 212. Visitors also arrived from India with 146 tourists, Bulgaria with 116, Indonesia With 102 and Germany with 100, highlighting the diversity of source of markets and the return of Petra to international tourism itineraries.

PDTRA Chairman described the figure as an important and positive indicator of the recovery of the tourism sector in Petra, and stressed that most of the visitors came from abroad, reflecting renewed confidence among global tourism markets in the site as one of the mosdt significant destinations. 

The Chairman  also attributed the increase in visitor numbers to the cessation of the Israeli war on Gaza, as well as a series of integrated efforts that included intensive tourism promotion campaigns, constant coordination with the relevant authorities and the improvement of services offered to visitors, maintaining high security standards at the site. 
 

The official also pointed to increasingly positive indicators of growth in family tourism, whether through organised foreign tour groups or Arab and Jordanian visitors, noting that the authority is giving particular attention to this segment with the aim to build on it by developing services, upgrading facilities and enhancing the overall visitor experience in ways that meet family needs and encourage longer stays in Petra.

Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority Head expressed optimism about the coming period visitor number to continue rising during January and February and through to the end of the next tourism season, with the return of global and increased demand from tour groups, and he also stressed the authority commitment to supporting the tourism sector and strengthening its role in the economic and social development of local communities in Petra.

Link 

https://jordantimes.com/news/local/petra-records-highest-daily-visitor-total-since-2023