Big increase in arrival of tourists to Salalah
MUSCAT: The number of visitors to Salalah reached 826,376 between June 21 and September 21 in 2018, recording a rise of 28.1 per cent over the number of visitors during 2017, when it was 644,931, according to statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
About 94.4 per cent of tourists visited Salalah for recreational and entertainment purposes, with their number reaching 779,703, which is an increase compared to 604,774 in 2017.
As many as 12,966 tourists visited their relatives, families and friends; 23,281 were on business trip and 10,426 visited for other purposes.
According to NCSI statistics, based on the results of the survey on the number visitors of the Salalah tourist season 2018, the percentage of GCC visitors, including Omanis, reached 90.6 per cent, with their total number at 748,515. It is a 29.9 per cent increase over the number in 2017, when it was 576,006.
They were followed by 48,907 Asian tourists, a significant increase compared to 44,801 in 2017 season.
The number of tourists from other Arab countries was 22,306, while those from the European countries reached 4,293. The number of tourists from other countries was 2,355.
According to the NCSI data, 77.1 per cent of visitors were residents of the Sultanate, reaching 637,320. This is a significant increase over 500,112 in 2017.
The number of non-residents visiting Salalah tourism season 2018 reached 189,056, which is an increase compared to 1,819 visitors in 2017.
The number of tourists who reached Salalah by land was 656,853, which is an increase of 37.2 per cent against 478,872 visitors in 2017.
According to the data, 169,523 tourists travelled to the Governorate of Dhofar by air during the season, which is a rise of 2.1 per cent compared to 2017, when it was 166,059.
About 122,194 visitors reached Salalah travelled by domestic flights and 47,329 through international flights.
The largest number of visitors to the Salalah tourist season came during the period from July 1 to July 31, 2018, reaching 239,156.
It was followed by the period between August 1 and August 31, with the total number reaching 372,998.