Khareef Dhofar sees 6.6% rise in visitors

Muscat: Khareef Dhofar 2026 attracted 881,424 visitors between June 21 and August 15, recording a 6.6 per cent increase compared with 827,115 visitors during the same period last year.

Preliminary figures released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) showed that Omanis accounted for the largest share of visitors at 72.5 per cent, with 639,360 visitors compared with 591,577 during the corresponding period in 2025.

Visitors from other GCC countries totalled 156,216, up from 143,431 last year, while visitors of other nationalities stood at 85,848, compared with 92,107 during the same period in 2025.

The number of visitors arriving by air rose by 13.6 per cent to 212,562, compared with 187,153 last year. Those arriving through land border crossings increased to 668,862 from 639,962 during the corresponding period in 2025.

July remained the busiest month of the season, attracting 451,355 visitors compared with 421,506 in July 2025.

The season recorded 21,094 visitors between June 21 and 30, compared with 20,594 during the same period last year.

A further 408,975 visitors arrived between August 1 and 15, compared with 385,015 during the same period in 2025.

Visitors recorded during the first half of August accounted for 46.4 per cent of the total visitors since the start of the season.