As part of the holy land, Jordan is a central country that receives hundreds of thousands of christian pilgrims every year. This highlights faith-based tourism as a crucial segment of the tourism sector with opportunities for expansion and development.
One endeavor taken by the Jordan Tourism Board to expand faith-based tourism is planning to revive Jordan’s 1,600 year old camino, a pilgrimage taken by Egeria, a Hispano-Roman Christian woman, author to a detailed account of a pilgrimage to the holy land. She is considered to be the first Galician woman pilgrim and possibly the first Christian nun ever recorded.
Egeria sets down her observations and experiences in a letter now called Itinerarium Egeriae, Travels of Egeria in English, but it has also been named Peregrinatio as Loca Santa (pilgrimage 7 to the holy lands).
The text is a narrative addressed to her ‘dear ladies’: the women of her spiritual community back home. Historical details the letter contains set Egeria’s journey in 381 AD during the early years of the Byzantine Christian period, only one year after Emperor Theodosius I declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
The letter reveals details of her travels, where she journeyed for three years from Mount Sinai to Constantinople, and it is now of immense value to historians, geographers, linguists and liturgists.
Overall, the Camino de Egeria distinguishes itself from the Jordan Trail seeing that “it is more than a hike; it is a spiritual and cultural immersion through the early Christian landscape of Jordan”.
The revival of this pilgrim’s path is also a tool for bridging nations, generating a stronger bond between Jordan and Spain wherein January 2025, the Camino de Egeria was officially twinned with Spain’s renowned Camino de Santiago. The Jordan Tourism Board has formally encouraged both domestic travel providers and international tour operators to promote the Camino de Egeria as a signature faith-based tourism product, supporting its integration into regional and global pilgrimage circuits.