Muscat: The travel industry in the region has been warned of a major impact if a solution to the coronavirus outbreak is not resolved in time as several GCC countries, including
Oman, have been tapping the Chinese travellers with several incentives in recent years.
In the first half of 2019, the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Oman increased by 42 percent to around 64,000 and as per the official estimates, Oman
would have received around 80,000 Chinese in 2019.
According to the latest report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), If the slowdown in the Chinese economy was to impact the travel demand in the region, revenue risk
of carriers based in other regions would rise sharply. The Middle East carriers’ exposure increases from three to 50 percent as they are connecting China to the rest of the world, mainly Europe.
Following the directives of the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA), Oman Air was forced to suspend its all flights to and from Guangzhou, China, from February 2020 as per a
government directive. Bookings to and from Guangzhou were also suspended until further notice.
Salim al Maamari, DirectorGeneral of Tourism Promotion, told the Observer, “The number of Chinese travellers increased from 8,800 a few years ago to 44,000 in 2018 as the government has been working on initiatives to meet their specific requirements.”
The number of Chinese tourists travelling to the GCC is expected to increase from 1.4 million in 2018 to 2.2 million in 2023, according to Arab Travel Meet (ATM).
Of these, Oman is expected to receive 76,900 Chinese tourists during this period. The number of Asian guests, including those from China, at three to five-star hotels, increased by 17.5 percent
to 198,388 at the end of November 2019 from 168,818 a year ago.
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