Tourists flock to Dhofar for Salalah Tourism Festival

SALALAH: As many as 34,695 tourists visited Salalah during the second week of Khareef season between June 28 and July 4.

This shows a substantial growth of 87 per cent over the same period of last year when 18,555 tourists visited Dhofar. There was a 55.3 per cent growth in tourist arrivals over the first week of the Khareef season this year, when number of tourists stood at 22,342, according to the latest data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The statistics showed that 26,052 tourists, constituting 75.1 per cent of the total tourists during the second week, came by road.

This is an increase of 103.2 per cent over 12,821 tourists who came through road during the same period in 2017. It is also an increase of 65.8 per cent over 15,710 tourists during the first week of the current season.

In the second week of Khareef season this year, the number of tourists who reached by air stood at 8,643 — a growth of 50.7 per cent over 5,734 visitors during the same period last year. In the first week of the current year, the number of tourists who reached by air increased by 30.3 per cent.

Those who arrived through domestic flights in the second week were 5,774, against 4,769 tourists in the first week.

In addition, as many as 1,863 tourists reached Salalah by international flights in the first week, which touched 2,869 in the second week. The tourists from Gulf region, who include Omanis, were 86.3 percent of the total visitors during the second week of the Khareef season.

The number rose to 29,954 from 17,995 in the first week. Around 238 tourists came from Europe in the second week, indicating a growth of 209 tourists over the first week.the statistics also showed that 68 per cent of tourists who reached Salalah during the Khareef season during the second week were residents of the Sultanate.as many as 23,596 residents and 11,099 non-residents visited Salalah during the second week of the current Khareef season.

Pictures by Hamed al Khatiri and Abdulrahim Subait and ONA