Muscat: With almost all community schools in the Sultanate closing for Christmas and the employed segment keen to exhaust pending leaves of the year, outbound travel is expected to see a surge from the coming weekend.
After two years of restricted travel due to Covid restrictions, travellers around the world are trying to make the best of winter tourism and explore the Sultanate. Oman is also witnessing a surge in winter tourists’ arrival.
The check-in, security, and immigration counters at the Muscat International Airport are expected to see long queues as the outbound rush at the airport peak during evening hours.
One of the concerns raised by both inbound and outbound travellers who have used the airport in recent times is the unusable e-gates. The Royal Oman Police had installed e-gates for citizens and residents to make travel hassle-free, avoiding long queues for passport stamping.
Speaking to the Observer, officials said that we have had to make a few temporary arrangements for the World Cup shuttle flights but with the tournament closing to an end, we hope all passengers will be to arrive at and leave the airport without any hassle.”
They, however, suggested that passengers should clear all traffic and visa penalties, avoid carrying prohibited items, and must have required documents in their possession to avoid delays at the counters.
“A delay caused by one passenger can have a double or triple effect on other passengers for no mistake of theirs,” said an official.
“I had to wait for nearly two hours at the counters while returning to Muscat because the e-gates were not operational and there were long queues. Also, some passengers are forced to join the normal queue for passport stamping as the e-gate refused to accept or read their fingerprints,” said Ravish Sharma, a resident who recently travelled through Muscat International Airport.
Another inbound passenger said, “Only one e-gate was operational, and the supervising staff advised me to take the queue for passport stamping as there are chances of the e-gate showing error.
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