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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Are high hotel rates chasing away tourists?

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By Kabeer Yousuf — MUSCAT: Dec. 10: Oman has some of the best tourist attractions in the region, drawing visitors from across continents. Yet, the tourist flow has been showing a decline, with the big turn-off being the high hotel tariffs, according to travellers and tourism experts. Hotel revenues in the Sultanate has dropped by 36 per cent and tourist arrivals by 19 per cent, according to the Tourism Index Report by National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) recently.


The report further said the number of cruise passengers visiting Oman in the first half of the year saw a 73 per cent drop as against last year. In June 2016, 123,000 tourists visited Oman as against 155,000 in the same month last year, a 19 per cent decline.


The economic downturn across the globe and other socio-economic factors in the Middle East may have impacted the footfalls. Yet, high room rents in the country are said to be a major factor affecting the numbers, according to a cross-section of the people.


“I visited Oman last year for the first time and checked in to a hotel in Al Khuwaiyr. I found rates at star hotels were on the higher side — twice that of my country,” said Eric, a Dutch national.


The report says in the first half of 2016, 658,793 guests checked in to three to five star hotels, bringing in revenues of RO 88,635,000.


“I visited Amman (Jordan) on business. Amman Airport Hotel charged between RO80-90 for a two-bedroom suite, while I have to shell out double the amount here,” said Rajeev P Nair, managing director, Oman Orient Travel & Tourism.


“I stayed at Grand Hyatt in another country, where I paid between RO70 and RO80 for a two-bedroom suite. A four-star hotel in Dubai charged just RO70 for 24 hours,” he said.


Maryam, a travel agency executive, said she stayed in a star hotel in Cairo, but the 'rates were cheaper' compared with those in Oman hotels. “I paid RO 30-40 for a decent accommodation in Cairo. Here, it will be double the price or more,” she said.


Mohammed Raffi Uthman, a businessman in Muscat and a frequent traveller, says rates in Germany and Austria are cheaper.


“We (with wife and two children) stayed at Holiday Inn in Munich and paid RO85 on a half-board basis. A star hotel in Austria (Hotel Salzburgerhof) charged RO65, which is a very good price for a family of four,” said Raffi.


Sharzina, a resident of Muscat, visited Prague recently. “I stayed at Hotel Don Giovanni. “The rate was RO48 per day and the service was awesome.”


Rafath, an airline official, went on a holiday to Manali, in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. “We stayed at Hotel Citrus, a 4-star property, recently. Tariffs were cheap,” he says. They paid Rs4,200, which comes to about RO24.


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