New cable car is a big hit with tourists in Jordan’s northern forest city

Visitors are reportedly flocking in large numbers to the northern city of Ajloun in the highlands of northern Jordan, where a newly opened cable car ride is giving people the chance to experience stunning panoramic views of the mountainous forest landscape.

The Ajloun Teleferique, which was created by royal decree, is the first project of its kind in Jordan. Located about 70 kilometers northwest of Amman, it opened to the public in mid-June and immediately proved incredibly popular with visitors from across the country.

After taking a ride on the cable car with his family, visitor Omar Edajah said: “It was a breathtaking experience. Seeing the green mountains (and) the Ajloun Castle from above is such a splendid and unforgettable experience.”

The 49-year-old said he once rode in a cable car with his wife and four children in Antalya during a visit to Turkiye and had enjoyed the views over the green mountains and Mediterranean Sea.

“But I always said to myself, why don’t we have (a cable car) in Jordan, in Wadi Rum or Ajloun?” he said.

“At last, my dream has come true and now, a one-hour drive from Amman, we can always enjoy such an awesome experience.”

The cable car system covers a distance of 2.5 kilometers in about 10 minutes. It begins in the Eshtafina forest and terminates at Ajloun Castle, 1,250 meters above sea level. The cost of a return journey is 4 Jordanian dinars ($5.64). The total cost of the construction project, which began in 2020 but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, was 11 million dinars.

Arwa Hiyari, the CEO of the Jordan Free and Development Zones Group, which manages the new attraction, said that more than 20,000 people rode in it in the first 10 days after its official inauguration on June 20.

During the Eid Al-Adha holiday at the end of last month, between 2,500 and 3,000 people used it each day, she added.

The Ajloun Teleferique will boost the tourism sector in the area, Hiyari said, and the project had created a number of investment opportunities.

Mohammed Al-Deek, the director of Ajloun Tourism Directorate, said that between 40,000 and 50,000 people visited Ajloun on Wednesday this week, the Islamic New Year holiday, “with the cable car being their first destination.”

He added that number of people coming to the area each weekend to ride on the cable car is having a knock-on effect on bookings at hotels, resorts and other local attractions.

Jorda historically has focused more on the development of infrastructure projects at the southern tourist attractions of Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba, collectively known as Jordan’s Golden Triangle, than in the cities of Jerash, Ajloun and Irbid in the north, which is a more verdant part of the mostly desert country and is home to hundreds of ancient Roman and Greek sites.

During a visit in May to Jerash, Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for the development of more tourism projects in the city, which he described as “one of the most beautiful places” he had ever seen.

Jerash, which is about 40 kilometers north of Amman, is considered one of the largest and most well-preserved sites of Greek and Roman architecture outside of Italy.

According to recent data from the Central Bank of Jordan, expenditure by Jordanians on outbound tourism rose by 46.5 percent during the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, reaching $905.5 million. The bank said that in June alone, expenditure on outbound tourism was about $209 million, a 41 percent increase on June 2022.

The bank data also revealed that tourism revenue reached $3.456 billion during the first six months of this year, a 59.4 percent increase compared with the same period of last year.

Spending by Jordanians on tourism abroad reached $1.467 billion in 2022, an increase of 59.6 percent compared with 2021. Tourism revenue in Jordan increased by 110.5 percent in 2022 to $5.816 billion, according to the bank, exceeding the figure for the 2019 pre-pandemic period by 0.4 percent.