Three million tourists visited Oman in 2016

MUSCAT: Three million people visited the Sultanate in 2016, with nationals from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Indians, Britons, Germans and Pakistanis forming the majority, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Until the end of December 2016, 1,453,336 GCC nationals had visited the Sultanate, followed by 299,568 Indians. Britons accounted for 173,684 visitors in 2016 while Germans made up for 136,950,the rest 89,258 being Pakistanis. These five countries contributed the largest number of visitors to Oman.
Also, last year, 5.9 million visitors left the country.
In December 2016 alone, 276,000 visitors landed in the Sultanate, reflecting a 9.5 per cent increase, compared to last year when the number was 252,000.
The GCC nationals formed 31.4 per cent of the total visitors in December, followed by Indians, Britons and Germans who made up 12.3 per cent, 8.7 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively.
A 23 per cent increase in cruise ship visitors was recorded by the NCSI. Of these, 43,000 arrived by sea in December last year, compared to 35,000 during the same month in 2015.
A total of 35,287 Europeans formed the largest number from any region to have come via cruise ships in December 2016, compared to 26,670 during the same month in 2015. They were followed by Asians with 3,658 visitors, a drop from 4,342 visitors in December 2015. A total of 2,580 visitors who came by cruise ships were Americans, followed by 986 Africans, and 231 from the Oceania.
The revenue of 3-5 star hotels, however, registered a 2.5 per cent drop. During December 2016, hotels made OMR19.3 million in revenue, compared to OMR19.8 million during the same month last year.
A total of 137,060 guests were accommodated in hotels, reflecting an 8.1 per cent increase and a 66 per cent occupancy rate, compared to 126,844 guests during December 2015 when the occupancy rate was 62.3 per cent.