Jordan’s only seaport and its Red Sea resort coast — a special economic zone betting on marinas, diving and the Petra day-trip, while the official statistics stop at the national border.
Source: Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities national ledger · ASEZA · terminal operators · Verified October 2026
No bars where no official series exists — the national split sits in the Jordan country file.
Source: MoTA · Central Bank of Jordan · Verified October 2026
the new waterfront — marina, golf and the glassy flag resorts
the dive coast south of town — house reefs, beach clubs, the older resort strip
Marsa Zayed, 2023 — ninety minutes to Petra, one hour to Wadi Rum
The full Aqaba Market Brief is in production. These are the desk notes shaping it.
Aqaba has seen the Kingdom’s most active recent hotel investment — several five-star properties aimed at the Red Sea dive market, per the 2024 national stock-taking.
April 2026: Jordan signed the Aqaba railway — the port and the resort coast move closer to Amman’s ledger.
National occupancy troughed in June 2025; by September 2026 the Kingdom averaged 38% — Aqaba’s dive-and-domestic mix cushions it better than Petra.
6.475M visitors, receipts near JOD 5.5bn, a record airport — the full national ledger that Aqaba feeds.
Read the file →Queen Alia’s 9.79M record, a profitable flag carrier and the loop that begins where the seventh hill ends.
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