On the back of ease in Covid-19 restrictions, visitors to the Sultanate of Oman witnessed a massive 488.3 per cent jump in March 2022 compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the number of inbound visitors rose to 183,000 in March, taking the total number of visitors to the country during the first quarter of the current year to 415,000.
“People from the Gulf countries constituted 37.8 per cent of the total number of 69,192 visitors to be ranked first in the nationalities”, states the report about the tourism data.
Indians, Germans and Yemenis came at the second, third and fourth place with 13.2 per cent, 4 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively during the month.
The report indicated that revenues for three to five-star hotels registered a substantial rise of 125 per cent to reach RO 19 million during March 2022 compared to RO 9 million during the same month last year.
The total number of guests in these hotels rose to 158,000 from 132,000 last year with a 20.1 per cent increase.
At the same time, the report pointed out that the total number of outbound visitors also rose significantly to reach 340,000 with Omani nationals taking the lion’s share in a total of 340,000 during March 2022.
“The Omani outbound visitors reached 60.4 per cent from the total of visitors during March 2022”, the report reveals.
The number of incoming and outgoing domestic flights from Muscat, Salalah, Suhar and Duqm airports witnessed an increase of 25.3 per cent to 2,914, compared to 2,326 flights during the same period in 2021.
International air traffic through Muscat International Airport saw an increase in the number of flights by 74.4 per cent in March 2022, and the total number of international flights passengers including arrival, departure and transfer of flights increased 79.1 per cent, from 707,03 passengers to 1,266,551 passengers compared to the same period in of March 2021.
Salalah Airport recorded an increase in the number of flights by 52 per cent, bringing the number of incoming and outgoing international flights through the airport to 724 by the end of March, an increase of 138.2 per cent.
The number of domestic flights through the airport increased 18.2 per cent to 915 flights, compared to 774 flights during the same period in 2021. The number of domestic — both incoming and outgoing — passengers increased 41 per cent at the end of March 2022, compared to the same period in 2021.
The number of international flights (departing and arriving) from Suhar Airport reached 248 by the end of March 2022, as the number of passengers on international flights (incoming and outgoing) reached 21,532.
As for Duqm Airport, it recorded a 12.8 per cent increase in the number of domestic flights (departing and arriving) to 176 flights at the end of March 2022, compared to 156 flights at the end of March 2021, while the number of passengers increased by 26.2 per cent from 12,584 passengers at the end of March.
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