Amman - Jordan's income from tourism rose by 8.5 per cent while the number of visitors coming to the country on package tours increased by 55 per cent in the first six months of the year, according to official statistics published Thursday.

The kingdom's tourism industry generated revenues of 835 million dinars (1.18 billion dollars) between January and June, compared with 769 million dinars in the same period of 2007, a report by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) said.

The number of visitors on package tours increased to 242,795 in the first half of the year from 156,358 in the same period of 2007.

European tourists represented the bulk of visitors on package tours, with 157,284 Europeans visiting the country in the first six months of this year, a 63-per-cent increase from last year, when 96,525 visited the kingdom.

The number of US tourists visiting Jordan rose by 84 per cent in the first six months of the year, to about 32,000 from 17,377 in the first half of last year.

Around 37,900 visitors on package tours were from Asia and the Pacific, up from 27,094 during the same period of 2007.

The CBJ report also revealed a significant increase in the number of visitors to major tourist sites across the Hashemite Kingdom.

Petra continued to be the main attraction for visitors, with 404,161 tourists visiting the rose-red city in the first six months of the year, compared with 252,215 in the first half of 2007. (dpa)