Entries Tagged 'Petra' ↓

David Hartman will be giving a presentation on Egypt-Red Sea dive travel Saturday August 28, 2010 at 6:00 pm at Sterling Silver SCUBA in Sterling, VA.  Mr Hartman’s presentation will cover information on touring ancient Egypt and the Red Sea as a dive destination as well as details on Sterling Silver SCUBA group trip to Egypt on June 25-July 10, 2011. Please call Kevin Davenport at Sterling Silver SCUBA to reserve a spot in the seminar (703) 731-0257. Guests are welcome.

Sterling Silver Divers Egypt-Red Sea Group Trip page:

http://www.silverdivers.com/trips/2011/7/1/egypt-and-the-sinai-july-2011.html

Trip Highlights: 11 days/9 Nights Cairo, Luxor, Land based day diving in Sharm El Sheikh and Dahab

Hi Mr. Afifi:  Just a quick note to say how much I along with Joe Fogel, Tom McConnell and Dan Schopp enjoyed our first visit to Egypt.  Egypt is an amazing place with a rich history and wonderful people. We worked closely with Darlene and David at Learning Through Travel out of New York on this FAM trip.  They did an excellent job on the trip itinerary, but your team had to do the actual tours and logistics once we arrived in Egypt.  From the moment we arrived we were treated with exceptional service and that continued throughout the trip.  Your team is to be commended and the Learning Through Travel experience will be recommended without reservation to travel prospects.  Well done!  Rami was incredible.  An excellent communicator and problem solver.  We made changes during our trip with a balloon air ride in Luxor, spending one a night in Sharm El Sheik to dive the Ras Mohamed, adding Dan Shopp to our visit to Petra, Jordan and riding camels to the top of Mt Sinai.  All handled without a hitch.  Nice.  Rami, was a take charge person that made things happen and a joy to be with (kind of like traveling with a friend).  Awesome! Tarek was absolutely an amazing driver!  Hotel selection was very impressive.  Manal did a great tour of Cairo and was good at navigating the various venues and helped us with shopping.  We felt we were in good hands during our visit.  Ahmed and George did great tours of Luxor, the temples and the Valley of the Kings.  Rami and Tarek resumed contact with us in Sharm, Dahab and Mt. Sinai.  The diving was great in Ras Mohamed and the wall dives in Dahab we absolutely amazing.  The dive masters Mohamed Said and Mora (hope I got the spelling right) did great jobs in Sharm and Dahab.  The trip to Jordan went well as well.  Basim and the tour coordinator did a great job in Petra.  The camel ride to the top (plus a bit of a hike at the top) at Mt Sinai plus the visit to St. Catherine’s was very special!  In summary, it was an outstanding trip.  We are sharing our trip with others in the Atlanta market.  Should something develop, we’ll be in touch with Darlene.  Once again thank you for wonderful experience!  You have an excellent group of professionals in Egypt! Shukran! 

Bryan Kovacs, Trip Leader: Atlanta Dive Group

(VisitJordon.com) The first quarter of 2010 heralded good news for Jordan’s tourism sector in what could be another landmark year. Statistics by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the by the Central Bank of Jordan have shown across-the-board increases in both visitor numbers as well as tourism receipts. The Ministry of Tourism has said overnight tourist numbers have jumped 33.4% during the first quarter to 883,450 people from a total of 662,075 in the same period of 2009. Same day visitors were up 17.6% to 651,325 people from 553,929 in 2009. The Ministry said overall numbers in the first quarter totaled 1,534,802 visitors compared to 1,216,004 in the same period of 2009, and representing a jump of 26.2%.

With the exception of African visitors whose numbers have declined by 5%, all other regions have witnessed increasing numbers particularly from Europe. American visitors increased by 8.7%, Asia-Pacific nationals by 27%, South Asians by 29.4%, Arabs by 20.8%, and Europeans by 35.5%. Figures by the Central Bank of Jordan have shown that tourism receipts in the first quarter went up by 39.7% to 503 million Jordanian Dinar ($701 million) from 360 million ($501 million) in the same period of 2009 – a increase of $200 million.

Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) Managing Director Nayef H. al-Fayez expressed great pleasure at the figures and said “they have given Jordan’s tourism industry a very good reason to keep smiling.” 
Mr. al-Fayez said “while we look forward to a landmark season, we are confident that interest in Jordan as a unique and diversified international destination is increasing across the world.” He added that JTB’s participation in recent exhibitions and road shows “has given us a distinctive look at the increased confidence visitors have in Jordan both as a country and as destination for a trip of a life-time.”

Jordan’s numerous touristic sites have reported increased visitor activity during 2010′s first quarter compared with the same period of 2009. Petra, the Kingdom’s jewel in the crown, saw an almost 50% increase in visitors. However, the biggest attraction was Mount Nebo with an 88% increase, followed by Madaba’s map with a 72% increase. Visitor numbers went up 32.5% in Jerash, 47.4% in Kerak, 41.2% in Ajloun, 45.1% in Um-Qais, 40.3% in Wadi Rum, and 24.3% in the Baptism Site.
Baptism Site officials have said that this is the biggest single increase in visitor numbers since the site was officially opened in 2002. They said April 2010 alone has seen more than 20,100 visitors and pilgrims indicating a growing appetite for the location, as well as for religious tourism as a main component of Jordan’s diverse tourism product.

Tourism officials have said a very good season in 2010 will mean that Jordan’s tourism industry is on track and in the right direction, particularly after avoiding impact of the global economic crisis which started in 2008.
Jordan has faired quite well in 2009 despite the difficult times witnessed by the global tourism industry, which included both the global financial crisis as well as the H1N1 virus pandemic. Tourism revenues remained almost unchanged at JD2.064 billion (around $3 billion) compared with 2.089 in 2008, while overnight visitor numbers increased by 1.6% in 2008.
Al-Fayez said for a small country like Jordan, maintaining 2008 figures was a great achievement. “Now we can focus on making 2010 another exceptional year,” he concluded.

Petra visitor numbers up 50%

(Ameinfo.com) Jordan’s Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) has said that the numbers of tourists visiting Petra had witnessed a “progressive increase” over the past three months, rising by 50% in the first quarter of 2010, Jordan Times has reported. The numbers of foreign tourists increased by 53%, while Jordanian visitors rose by 23%, PDTRA chief commissioner, Nasser Shraideh said. From January through March, around 210,000 local residents and foreigners visited the city, up from 140,000 during the same period in 2009, he said.

I traveled to Southington, Connecticut on Saturday to conduct a dive shop presentation for International SCUBA, a store right next to my hometown of Cheshire, CT.  The dive shop owners Joe and Cheryl Cherubini designed a great trip with Learning Through Travel that included a full land tour of ancient Egypt, a Nile Cruise, 3 Night Mini-Liveaboard, days of diving in Dahab plus a full day tour of Petra, Jordan, tour of Abu Simbel and even the Karnak Temple Sound and Light Show.  The goal of the presentation was to launch the Egypt trip for the dive shop and launch is indeed what happened as I was greeted by 25 eager potential trip paricipants. Some of the presentation attendees came well prepared with research on Egypt and the Red Sea completed and checks in hand for their trip deposit. The custom powerpoint presentation lasted over an hour and was well received with numerous oohs and ahhas of my pictures and lots of questions. After the presentation, Joe and Cheryl commented that everyone loved the show and they believed they already sold out the 16 spots on the liveaboard safari boat. The Cherubini’s also expected a fair number of non-divers to join the trip who would spend time resorting in Sharm while the divers were on the dive boat.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: $6,570.00 per person
• International Air New York/Cairo/New York
• Domestic Air Cairo/Aswan-Luxor/Sharm El Sheikh-Cairo
• 3 nights accommodation in Cairo at the Mena House Oberoi Hotel or similar
• 5 days/4 nights 5-star deluxe Nile Cruise
• 4 day/3 night mini-safari from Sharm El Sheikh
• 3 nights accommodation in Dahab at the Hilton Dahab Hotel or similar
• 1 night accommodation in Cairo at the Heliopolis Fairmont Hotel or similar
• All transfers: Cairo/Aswan/Luxor/Sharm El Sheikh/Dahab
• Sightseeing and transfers by deluxe motor coach
• English speaking guide throughout Egypt
• Full day sightseeing Pyramids (entrance into 1 pyramid)/Sphinx–Memphis/Sakkara
• Full day sightseeing Egyptian Museum of Antiquities including entrance into the Mummy Room-Citadel, Mosque & Bazaar
• Abu Simbel Excursion
• Sound & Light Show Presentation at Karnak Temple
• Full day tour to Petra, Jordan
• Transfer of dive equipment from Cairo/Sharm El Sheikh/Dahab/Cairo
• 4 1/2 days of dive excursions (2 dives per day – 3 or 4 if possible while on live aboard and in Dahab)
• Camel Safari Dive
• Marine Park Fees
• Egypt and Jordan Visa Fees
• All entrance fees and shore excursions on Nile Cruise
• 14 breakfasts, 11 lunches and 12 dinners
• Hotel taxes and service charges
• Porterage

For more information, go to International SCUBA’s web site:  http://Interscubact.com