Sultanate receives 3.5mn visitors in 2019
As many as 3.5mn visitors arrived in Oman in 2019, a rise of 8.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2018, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
While GCC nationals continued to top the number of visitors who arrived in the sultanate until December 2019, Germans formed the highest number of cruise visitors during the period.
According to figures released in a report by the NCSI, out of the total 3.5mn visitors to Oman, 1,413,416 Gulf nationals visited Oman, followed by Indians (437,030), Germans (176,769), British (157,351) and Yemenis (120,136).
NCSI added, “Cruise visitors during the period stood at 283,000 with German tourists sharing the top position (111,999) followed by British (27,023), Italians (23,446), Spanish (15,746) and Americans (13,822).
In December 2019 alone, 392,000 visitors arrived in Oman an increase of 5.1 per cent compared to the previous year with 373,000 visitors. Tourists from the Gulf stood at the first place with 34.4 per cent (135,000) people. Indians, Germans, Italians came at the second, third and fourth places with 12.7 per cent, 6 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.
Figures also show that the number of visitors arriving through cruise ships reached 55,986 in December compared to 54,794 visitors during the same period in 2018. Europeans comprised 78 per cent of the visitors.
The report pointed out that the number of outbound visitors during the period stood at 6.6mn in 2019. In December 2019, 519,000 visitors departed from the sultanate with Omanis comprising 62.4 per cent of total outbound visitors.
The hotel occupancy rate during the month of December 2019 touched 65.8 per cent with total number of guests reaching 184,000 compared to 150,000 guests during the same month in 2018 with an increase of 22.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, the revenues in December 2019 for three to five star hotels stood at RO27.4mn an increase of 6.5 per cent when compared to RO25.7mn in the same period in 2018.