Khareef tourists spent RO 66 m

MUSCAT: The number of tourists during the khareef Salalah in 2017 marginally dropped by 1.2 per cent to 644,931, compared with 652,986 during the 2016 season.

However, the expenditure of the tourists increased to RO 66 million, compared with RO 65 million in 2016, according to the data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

According to a survey conducted by the NCSI between June 21 and September 21, 2017, average per capita expenditure increased from RO 101 per person in 2016 to RO 103 per capita in 2017.

The occupancy level hit 35.3 per cent of total expenditure by tourists, while spending on shopping, transportation and entertainment was 22.4 per cent, food and drinks comprised 22.6 per cent of the total expenditure.

In July and August, hotel revenue from food and drinks in the Governorate of Dhofar recorded the highest level with 82.6 per cent and 70.8 per cent, respectively.

Other revenues of the hotels increased in July and August, reflecting a clear increase in spending by tourists on other items. In total, leisure and entertainment tourism was 90.8 per cent, which is valued as RO 60 million of the total tourism expenditure in 2017. Business tourism was valued at 5.2 per cent of total expenditure.

The total withdrawals from ATMs in Dhofar during the khareef season in 2017 was RO 523.77 million, where peak months for the withdrawals were during August with an estimated amount of RO 108.473 million, comprising an increase of 20.5 per cent over the previous month.

Since most of the visitors were families, which has an average size of five persons, the preferred type of accommodation was apartments and furnished houses, which led to the expenditure on this type of housing to exceed RO 48 million, comprising 73 per cent of the total expenditure of tourists on housing.

The number of nights spent during the khareef season in 2017 were 4.350 million nights compared with 4.396 million during the 2016 khareef season, with a decline of 1 per cent.

The GCC tourists, including Omanis comprised 89.3 per cent of the total tourists.

The number of Omani tourists stood at 458,579 which is 71.1 per cent of the total number, while the number of visitors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hit 57,352, comprising 8.9 per cent of total tourists.

The number of tourists from Saudi Arabia stood at 39,115, comprising 6.1 per cent of total during khareef season in 2017. The number of tourists from Qatar stood at 8,076 visitors, comprising 1.3 per cent, Kuwait stood at 6,612, comprising 1 per cent, Bahrain 6,672, comprising 1 per cent, and other Arab tourists stood at 16,616, constituting 2.6 per cent of total tourists.

Asian tourists were 44,801, comprising 6.9 per cent, while tourists of other nationalities were 7,508 constituting 1.2 per cent of total tourists during the season.

Although, the main reason for the slight fall in the number of visitors in 2017 was due to late onset of khareef season and starting of school year, the number of tourists in the season maintained annual growth rate of 11.9 per cent since 2015.

The tourism for entertainment purpose was 93.8 per cent in terms of the number of visitors, while the rest 3.2 per cent were for business and 2.3 per cent for visiting family and friends.

The number of tourists of khareef season who came through land routes were the highest compared to the visitors coming by flights.

The number of tourists who came through land routes stood at 478,872 which is 74.3 per cent compared with 166,059 tourists who came by flights comprising 25.7 per cent.

— ONA