The first regular flights of “Smart Wing,” the biggest Czech air carrier, landed at King Hussein International Airport (KHIA), onborad 190 tourist from Prague, in cooperation with Friends Tours for Travel & Tourism.
In a statement to “Petra” on Saturday, Tourism and Environment Commissioner at Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), Nidal Majali, announced start of the winter tourist season with the arrival of the first flight of regular, low-cost flights to KHIA.
This season witnessed a “remarkable” start, based on “true” analysis of advance reservations made by travel offices with Aqaba hotels of various classifications, he noted.
Majali also expressed his hope that Jordan’s tourism sector would recover, which has been suffered since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, especially with resumption of low-cost flights.
The next season will see the highest number of visitors , especially European tourists, since Aqaba has become a tourist safe and favorite destination this time of year, he expected.
Aqaba receives tourists from many countries such as Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belarus, France, Greece, Austria, Poland and the UAE on low-cost airlines such as EasyJet, Ryanair, and Wizz Air, he said.
These flights are operated according to contracts with Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) to operate flights to Aqaba, with ASEZA support aimed to attract tourists, which put Jordan and Aqaba on the global tourism map “strongly,” in addition to other airlines’ flights operating on regular basis, he noted.
For his part, CEO of the Aqaba Airports Company (AAC) Ramzi Arafat said low-cost airlines fly passengers to Aqaba from about 22 airports around the world, based on coordination with the relevant authorities at Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism and other stakeholders, adding that travelers have been exempted from departure tax.
Source:Jordan News & Info Agency