Are high hotel rates chasing away tourists?

country are said to be a major factor affecting the numbers, according to a Dec. 10: Oman has some of the best cross-section of the people. tourist attractions in the region, drawing “I visited Oman last year forr the visitors from across continents. Yet, the first time and checked in to a hoteltel in tourist flow has dipped, with the big Al Khuweir. I found rates at star hotels turn-off being the high hotel tariffs, were on the higher side — twice that hat of according to travellers and tourism my country,” said Eric, a Dutch national.ional. experts. The report says in the first halfalf of

Sample this. Hotel revenues in the 2016, 658,793 guests checked in too 3 to Sultanate has dropped 36 per cent and 5 star hotels, bringing in revenues of RO tourist flow 19 per cent, according to 88,635,000. the Tourism Index Report by National “I visited Amman (Jordan) on Centre for Statistics and Information business. Amman Airport Hotel chargedarged (NCSI) recently. The report further says RO 8 to 90 for a 2-BR suite, while I have the number of cruise passengers visiting to shell out double the amount here,” Oman in the first half of the year saw says Rajeev P Nair, Managing Director, a 73 per cent drop as against last year. Oman Orient Travel & Tourism. In June 2016, 123,000 tourists visited “I stayed at Grand Hyatt in another Oman as against 155,000 in the same country, where I paid RO 70 to 80 for month last year, a 19 per cent decline. a 2-BR suite. A 4-star hotel in Dubai

The economic downturn across the charged just RO 70 for 24 hours,” he said.globeandothersocio-economicfactors in the Middle East may have impacted Maryam, a travel agency executive, the footfalls. Yet, high room rents in the said she stayed in a star hotel in Cairo, but the “rates were cheaper” compared withw those in Oman hotels. “I paid RO 30-4030 for a decent accommodation in Cairo.C Here, it will be double the price or more,” she said.

Mohammed Raffi Uthman, a businessmanbu in Muscat and a frequent traveller,tr says rates in Germany and AustriaA are cheaper.

“We (me, wife and two children) stayedst at Holiday Inn in Munich and paidp RO 85 on a half-board basis. A star hotelho in Austria (Hotel Salzburgerhof) chargedch RO 65, which is a very good price for a family of four,” said Raffi.

Sharzina, a resident of Muscat, visited Prague recently. “I stayed at Hotel Don Giovanni. “The rate was RO 48 per day and the service awesome.”

Rafath, an airline official, went on a holiday to Manali, in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. “We stayed at Hotel Citrus, a 4-star property, recently. Tariffs were cheap,” he says. They paid Rs 4,200, which comes to about RO 24.