The Aqaba Bird observatory has been awarded the Green Destinations Certification and is among the top 100 tourist destinations in the world applying sustainable destination management through the integration and preservation of the local community in addition to biodiversity and environmental protection.

The Observatory was awarded the certification during the annual conference organized by the Green Destinations organization in Tallinn, capital of Estonia.

The city of Aqaba made its bid to enter the program aimed at placing it among the top 100 global green destinations that implement sustainable tourism standards; through submitting two success stories. The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority also participated in the bid.

Head of the tourism marketing department at the Aqaba Authority, Thelma Radwan, stated that the Aqaba Bird Observatory is the first ‘artificial’ tourist destination based on the idea of enabling sustainable environmental activities in the face of climate challenges that threatens environments and biodiversity.

The project reuses water to protect birds and create a specialized environmental for bird watching tourism – considered the most prominent type of eco-tourism constantly growing on a global scale.

Firas Rahahleh from The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) added that integrating the eco-values and environmental sustainability with tourism at the Aqaba Bird Observatory constitute the foundation of the project, which has become a destination not only for visitors to Aqaba, but also for those interested in bird watching from all over the world, thus constituting a valuable opportunity to support tourism in the city of Aqaba.