1.5 million visitors arrive in Oman by end of July

Muscat: As many as 1.5 million visitors flew into the Sultanate during January until July 2016 while 3.2 million visitors left the country during the same period, according the latest tourism report published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The GCC nationals topped the list of visitors to the Sultanate, with their numbers touching 557,353 followed by 163,838 Indians, 99,575 Britons and 83,083 Germans. The Omani visitors numbered 82,759.
The number of visitors to Salalah during Khareef “Monsoon season” during this period surged by a whopping 21.4 per cent compared with figures for the same period last year, according to statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). Total visitors rose to 615,948 as of September 5 from 507,225 visitors during the comparable period last year.
Coming to the hospitality industry, the period saw as many as 769,520 guests checking into star (3-5) hotels, generating revenues of OMR98.6 million.
In July alone, inbound visitors numbered 272,000, marking a 27 per cent year on year growth.
The GCC visitors (excluding Omanis) came first at 144,000, forming 53 per cent of the total inbound visitors.
Indian, Omani and Pakistani nationalities formed 10 per cent, 8 per cent and 3.5 per cent of the inbound visitors.
The Sultanate’s outbound visitors in July numbered 551,000, with 70 per cent of them being Omanis. There has been a 46 per cent increase in the number of outbound visitors in July compared with the same month in 2015.
Khareef Salalah visitors in July logged a year on year growth of 39 per cent with their numbers reaching 300,000. As much as 87 per cent of the visitors were from the GCC countries.
The Omanis formed 72 per cent while Emiratis formed 10 per cent of the total Khareef visitors.
The revenues of top-end hotels in July declined 10 per cent to OMR10.1 million compared with the same month in 2015. Occupancy rate in star hotels too fell 14 per cent to 38.1 per cent during July, compared with July 2015.
Total number of guests in star hotels in the month went down by a whopping 52 per cent to 111,872 guests, the NCSI report said.