[2] The idea of a hiking trail stretching across Jordan was first introduced in the 1990s when Wadi Rum came to be seen as a hot spot for rock climbing.

[3] Tony Howard and Di taylor had completed their guidebooks to Wadi Rum and Jordan and realised the possibility of a country length trail.

The trail will be beneficial to Jordan's tourism sector as it begins to recover from the slump it witnessed due to regional turmoil in the early 2010s from the Arab Spring.

[4] The trail stretches from Umm Qais in northern Jordan to the coastal city of Aqaba in its south.

The trail received extensive media coverage after its inception, and has been named as among 2018's best tourist destinations in the world to visit by National Geographic,[2] the British Sunday Times, the Guardian, Condenast, Vogue US and Lonely Planet.