Amman - Economy

Economy

Amman is aggressively positioning itself as a hub for business, and new projects are continually transforming the city's skyline. Following the 2003 Iraq War, all business dealings with Iraq flow through Amman in some way. Its airport, Queen Alia International Airport, is the hub of the national carrier, Royal Jordanian, which is a major airline in the region. The airline is headquartered in central Amman.

Amman is considered to be a regional leader in the following areas:

Healthcare Amman, and Jordan as a whole for that matter, is the Middle East's hub for medical tourism as the kingdom receives the most medical tourists in the region and the 5th highest in the world. Amman receives 250,000 foreign patients a year and receives over $1 billion annually.

Information Technology Amman is one of the top 10 cities in the world to launch a tech start-up in 2012 according to a California-based venture capital firm, surpassing traditional regional tech hot-spots like Dubai and Tel Aviv. It is also considered the region's "Silicon Valley". 75% of all Arabic content on the internet originates from Jordan. Rubicon Group Holding and Maktoob, two major regional tech companies, are based in Amman.

Foreign Investment and Business In a report by Dunia Frontier Consultants, Amman along with Doha and Dubai are the favored hubs for multinational corporations operating in the Middle East and North Africa region. In FDI magazine, Amman was chosen as the Middle Eastern city with the most potential to be a leader in foreign direct investment in the region, beating Dubai. One of the Middle East's largest banks, Arab Bank, is headquartered in Amman. Also based in Amman is Aramex, the Middle East's largest logistics and transportation company. It is also one of the world's largest logistics and transportation companies in the world alongside DHL, FedEx, and UPS. Furthermore, several of the world's largest investment banks have offices in Amman including HSBC, Standard Chartered, Societe Generale, and Citibank.

-Tourism: Amman is the 8th most visited city by tourists and business travelers in the Middle East and Africa as well as the 9th highest recipient of international visitor spending. 1.8 million tourists visited the Jordanian capital in 2011 and spent over $1.3 billion in the city. If the entire kingdom is taken into account, there were 8 million tourists in 2010 and $ 4.4 billion in visitor expenditure, including medical tourists.

The Greater Amman Municipality's heavy investment in its infrastructure, such as the expansion of Queen Alia International Airport, the construction of a state of the art public transportation system, a national railway, and expansion of road works, will ease the arrival of millions of new visitors and tonnes of cargo through this soon to be regional hub.

West Amman, however, is less densely populated and more scenic. It is also the more prosperous part of Amman, with much of the city's economic activity being centered in West Amman. Most of the city's 5-star and 4-star hotels are located in West Amman. Important districts include Shmeisani and Abdali, the main economic centres of Amman, Abdoun, the up-scale residential district, and Jabal Amman, one of Amman's historic districts.

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