Charters from Poland and France are the latest additions in the Salalah charter business that is bringing tourists from as many as six countries on weekly basis.
Tour operators handling the charter business find these two additions significant even though the numbers are not as high as those coming from Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Italy.
“It is significant to us because new sectors are being added to Salalah destination. It is good for us, for local people involved in charter business and overall growth of tourism in Salalah,” said a local tour operator who is involved in the ground handling of the charter tourists.
The first charter carrying tourists from Poland arrived on Saturday, while the French charter started its operations some 10 days ago.
operation started
These two are in line with many other charters which have started operation with the beginning of the 2019-2020 charter season in September-October 2019. Most of the charters would operate till the end of March/April this year. More than 40,000 tourists are expected to arrive in Salalah this charter season, as hoteliers are seen busy with them. According to a source in the Ministry of Tourism, the room night capacity of Salalah is improving with the opening of new star hotels.
“They have capacity to accommodate more than 4,000 visitors at 35 hotels.”
The capacity is likely to improve further as some new hotels are undergoing finishing work,” said the source.
The current season started with the arrival of a charter from Czech Republic on October 6, 2019. It brought 189 tourists from Czech Republic. Sixty charters (to and from) are scheduled to operate on Prague-Salalah-Prague from October 6 to April 4, 2020.
From Slovakia the operation started on October 12, 2019. It will continue till April 25, as a group of 189 passengers are coming from Bratislava every Sunday and
after a week-long stay they are going back on Sunday again.
Italians are the largest chunk among the charter travellers to Salalah, as about 340 passengers per week are coming from Milan. The Italian operation started on October 27 and will continue till April 26, 2020.
Apart from charters, there are tourists from Germany and France, who are coming to explore Salalah by regular flights of Oman Air, Qatar Airways and flydubai. Most of the tourists from Germany have lined up their stay in
Salalah from September 15 to May 2, 2020.
The tourists overall are happy over nice weather in Salalah as many of them are seen exploring desert camping and game fishing in association with local tour guides.
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