Saraya Aqaba is the first of four major developments launched by Saraya Holdings. The high-end tourist and residential resort will cement Aqaba to the world tourism map and establish Saraya Holdings among the region’s leading property developers. If Lawrence of Arabia were to return to Aqaba today, he would not believe his eyes. What was then a backwater within the enormous Ottoman Empire, is now a major port city with a growing population of 100,000 and, if government goals are met, Jordan’s second economic center after Amman is set to double in size by 2020. The main catalysts for the city’s rapid growth in recent years have been the modernization of the port and the establishment of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone. Easy access to the sea, tax cuts and other business incentives, combined with Jordan’s entering the World Trade Organization and the signing of a Free Trade Agreement with
