The number of tourists who visited Jordan's ancient city of Petra in 2008 stood at 800,000 compared with 500,000 in 2007, the Petra Archaeological Park said on Sunday.

According to the park, Among the 800,000 tourists in 2008, around 711,000 were from Europe and other foreign countries while the others were Jordanian visitors including school and university students.

The entry fees collected from both foreign and national visitors in 2008 exceeded 15 million Jordanian dinars (21.2 million U.S. dollars).

Petra is the legacy of the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan more than 2,000 years ago.

It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture and has been listed as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. In 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.