Jordan income from tourism up 20%

The
ministry put the tourism earnings in the same period of 2009 at 1.563 billion
dinars.
It
reported a 19.3 percent increase in the number of tourists visiting Jordan
between January and October, to 6.5 million from 5.4 million in the same period
of 2009.
Arab
tourists accounted for 65 percent while non-Arab visitors represented 18 percent
of the total number of tourists, the ministry said.
Jordan
depends on its income from tourism as a key source of foreign currency for
improving the country’s balance of payments and reducing the deficit in the
public budget, economists said.