Jordan's Umm Al-Jimal added to UNESCO heritage list

Jordan's Umm Al-Jimal village has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, in a move hailed on Sunday by the country's tourism and antiquities minister as a "great achievement".

UNESCO, which is hosting a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, said on social media platform X on Friday that the earliest structures uncovered at Umm Al-Jimal date back to the first century AD, "when the area formed part of the Nabataean Kingdom".

It added that inscriptions in "Greek, Nabataean, Safaitic, Latin and Arabic uncovered on the site… sheds light on the changes in its inhabitants' religious beliefs".

The village is near the Jordanian-Syrian border, 86 kilometres (53 miles) north of the capital Amman, and is known as "the black oasis" due to the prevalence of black volcanic rock in the area.

Jordan's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Makram Al-Qaisi said in a press conference on Sunday that the inclusion of Umm Al-Jimal on the World Heritage List is a "great achievement we should be proud of".

He said the ministry hoped to invite local and international investors to the site and "present Umm Al-Jimal as an attractive tourist destination".

The name Umm Al-Jimal comes from the use of camels as part of trade caravans in the village.

The village was first settled by the Nabataean peoples in the first century AD and later occupied by the Romans, becoming an important agricultural and commercial village.

Umm Al-Jimal is the seventh historical site in Jordan to be added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, along with Petra, Quseir Amra, Umm Al-Rasas, Wadi Rum, Mughatas, and Salt.

Tourism contributes between 12 and 14 percent of GDP in the kingdom, whose 10 million inhabitants rely heavily on the sector.

Qaisi said that Jordan welcomed more than six million tourists in 2023, bringing in $7 billion.

But tourism has started to feel the effects of the Israeli war raging on nearby Gaza. Qaisi said the kingdom saw a 4.9 percent drop in tourism revenue so far in 2024, and a 7.9 percent drop in visitors.

Most tourists come from Europe, the United States and Canada, followed by Asian Pacific countries.