Online e-visa will boost ‘Come to Oman’ global tourism drive

Royal Oman Police launched the e-visa under the auspices of Alawi on Monday

MUSCAT: Oman’s new e-visa online portal is the most sophisticated in the Gulf, experts say, and will help shape the future of tourism in the country.

In five minutes flat, for OMR20, tourists can have a visa to visit Oman delivered to their email inbox. Previously, they had to stand in long queues at the airport awaiting a visa on arrival.

“You can apply from anywhere in the world and receive the visa in five minutes. All it takes are three steps. We hope to increase online visa procedures from two per cent online, as it currently stands, to 98 per cent online,” a Royal Oman Police spokesman said.

Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, called the Royal Oman Police e-visa service “a massive project,” adding “There is no doubt that this is something we are proud of, because it is a massive project. The ease and development of visa procedures will be inclusive of the world, of all five continents,” the minister said.

“What we saw on screen indicates the importance of using these programmes, firstly to protect those coming into and leaving the country, and to help tourists spend as long as they can in the country without complicated procedures, as well as entrepreneurs, students, researchers and others.

“This is a result of the stability that the country is witnessing, as well as the development the country has seen, as well as the new horizons of electronic services that have been transformative for the next generation. Inshallah, we hope that Oman will be a leading country in technology use and development, not in the far future, and we congratulate the Sultan on this accomplishment as one of his first directives to Omanis. “The purpose of the Omani renaissance is to push the residents of Oman to a developed nation, which we are witnessing today.”