Resumen de Analysis of the tourism activities in the petra archaeological park (Jordan)
Suleiman Ali Ibrahim Alfarajat
Since the time of its inscription in the World Heritage List in 1985, Petra has been receiving pressure from tourism, which has increased greatly especially after its designation as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
Analysis of the tourism activities in the Petra Archaeological Park is a significant subject for safeguarding and protecting this World Heritage site for coming future generations. This dissertation explains the case of Petra in the last few years, the relation and the impact of the tourism activities and services on the monuments and archaeological remains. Accordingly, analyzing these different activities and their effects on the monuments and the areas that receive high visitation numbers in the Petra Archaeological Park was the main objective for this dissertation.
The methodology used in this study aims at enriching this dissertation with adequate and comprehensive data. Various tools were used such as conducting surveys for the stakeholders of Petra, collecting the required statistical data and developing several questionnaires and the author¿s personal observation and experience during his 25 years of work as the director of the Park.
From the other hand there are 11 World Heritage sites that were facing the same natural, human deterioration effects, site development and management problems were selected in this dissertation as case studies. The similarity between these sites and Petra was focused on and illustrated. Additionally, some of Petra region features such as the geology, the climate and the biodiversity were thoroughly explained. Furthermore, the study emphasized that tourism comprises the main source of livelihoods for the Petra communities. These six primary groups are clustered in different villages in the east and south-east areas of the Park. The biggest of which is Wadi Musa and having the main tourist facilities and services. On the other hand, this dissertation described the basic management framework, management structures and the main management plans that were written in the past for Petra Archaeological Park.
Also, it is worth mentioning that, this dissertation shed the light on some of the activities in Petra and assessed them in accordance to their impact on monuments, environment and biodiversity of the park. Some of these activities can further accelerate the erosion of sandstone monuments, and cause irreversible damage to the archaeological site. The study also showed that tourism Infrastructure in Petra like hotels and restaurants has been well developed over the last 10 year.
In the current study, assessment of the natural threats on Petra¿s monuments was conducted and a survey was carried out by the author for the purpose of identifying the monuments that are at risk. Additionally the study included the monuments which fell before and after Brunnow and Domaszewski study and the Monuments fell in the last 25 years.
Regarding the assessment of the visitors¿ activities and services in Petra the study showed the main areas that were deteriorated and impacted from tourism activities. These activities and services that cause negative impact on monuments were shown in a table with the name of the monument affected and the effects. As a final conclusion, the study has shown that the site of Petra faces many challenges some of which is of managerial outcome mainly due to the overlapping of authorities and inefficiency in implementing laws and regulations, some of the challenges derive from natural factors such as the wind and water that deteriorate the monuments façades, natural hazards such as earthquakes have also destroyed many monuments, and finally human factors have also shown to produce several impacts on the site especially in the most visited areas of the Park such as the Treasury area.
