New visa rules to give tourism boost

Muscat, Feb 6 - The new e-Visa non-sponsored visa rules introduced last year are expected to boost inbound tourism in the current year, say experts in the travel industry. “We have to wait for figures during the peak tourism season, which is from November to end of March. I expect a big jump this year,” according to an official with a leading airline in Oman. “The overall market conditions are improving in the GCC and it will reflect on Oman tourism too,” he said. An official at a high-end hotel said the occupancy at her property has been above 90 per cent this year. “The industry is expecting a major boost this year,” she added.

But the overall figures last year have been moderate. The three- and five-star hotels received 1.4 million guests in 2017 until the end of November, while revenues went up 2.4 per cent during the same period compared with the same period a year ago. The number of tourists from European countries increased 15.4 per cent to 518,629 from 449,348 in 2016. At the same time, the number of tourists from the GCC declined 3.6 per cent to 199,342 and from Asia by 9.2 per cent to 145,183. The number of Omani tourists in hotels declined 18.8 per cent to 384,161 until the end of November from 473,159.

The guests from other Arab countries declined 17.7 per cent to 59,880 from 72,786. The total number of guests declined four per cent and the occupancy rate 0.4 per cent. At the same time, the number of passengers who arrived at the Muscat airport rose to 6,398,720 until the end of November 2017 as against 5,547,8572 in 2016. The number of transit passengers in Muscat increased 18.6 per cent to 32,782 in 2017 until November-end from 27,638 in 2016.

Vinod Nair