MUSCAT: In a major move that will help citizens, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Saturday issued a decision providing visa exemption for ordinary passport holders of certain countries.
With this decision, which was published in the official gazette, citizens of the Sultanate of Oman, the United States, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are exempted from visas for 90 days in every 180 days for travel to Türkiye for tourism purposes.
"Decision 7976 on providing visa exemption for ordinary passport holders of the USA, Bahrain, the UAE, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the Sultanate of Oman for 90 days every 180 days for their touristic travels to Turkiye," the official Gazette said.
It amended the decision of the Council of Ministers 2002/3654, concerning the determination of those who will be exempted from a visa to visit Türkiye.
Oman, passport holders can now travel to around 88 destinations visa-free.
Turkish Ambassador to Oman, Muhammet Hekimoğlu, said in June this year that both countries are currently working on easing the visa rules for Omani citizens.
Once implemented, Oman citizens will be able to enter the territory of Türkiye without having to obtain a visa.
In 2022, 130,000 Omanis entered Türkiye for tourism purposes, which is expected to increase with the ease of travel rules.
Currently, Oman Air flies to Istanbul and Trabzon, while SalamAir flies to two airports in Istanbul including Sabiha Gökçen.
Pegasus Airlines and Turkish Airlines also fly to Istanbul from Muscat.
Türkiye has earned $42 billion from tourism in the first nine months of this year, a figure that rose 20.1 per cent year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.
The country hosted 44.6 million visitors in January-September, an increase of 13.2 per cent from the same time last year.
In the third quarter of this year, tourism income increased 13.1 per cent from the prior year to $20.2 billion.
The country saw 22.4 million visitor arrivals in July-September, while the figure stood at 21 million last year.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
