Number of tourists to Oman rises in 2016

MUSCAT: Tourists increased in numbers as about 2.5 million touched down from the beginning of 2016 until October compared to 2.2 million during the same period last year, according to the latest data.
The National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) reports that 1,248,387 of the total are from other Gulf Cooperation Council States followed by Indians with 244,292 and British nationals with 133,706. Germans came fourth with 98,061 registered visitors while Filipinos registered 93,970 visitors.
One hundred and fourty-four thousand people also visited the country via cruise ships ranking Germans, Britons, Italians, Spanish and Americans as the top five tourists, according to NCSI.
The data also shows that over 4.9 million people departed the Sultanate until October 2016.
In October alone, there has been a 10.7 per cent decrease where 192,000 visitors touched down compared to 215,000 of the same month last year.
Gulf national reached 74,000 visitors forming 38.3 per cent of the total in October. Indians, Britons, Filipinos followed with 11.2 percent, 7.2 percent and 5.1 percent of the total respectively.
Hotel revenues was recorded at OMR16.7million in October 2016 which is a 10.5 per cent decrease compared to OMR18.7 million last year. 141,045 guests stayed in 3-5 star hotels compared to 122,186 in October 2015 which is a 15.4 percent increase. The occupancy rate reached 63.5 perc ent during October 2016 compared to 63.9 per cent during the same month in 2015 registering a 0.7 percent decrease. Europeans made the top of the list with 61,966 guests accommodated in Oman’s hotels followed by Omanis with 40,068 and Asians with 12,529.