RIYADH: European travelers to Oman helped fuel a 26.4 percent rise in hotel revenue in the first nine months of 2023, official data has revealed.
Figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information show that three- to five-star facilities in the country pulled in over 153 million Omani rials ($397.47 million) over the period.
The revenue growth was fueled by a surge in the total number of hotel guests, with 295,155 visitors from Europe – a 43.4 percent increase on the first nine months of 2022.
By September 2023, the country hosted 1.43 million visitors, marking an uptick of 27.3 percent from the 1.13 million guests recorded during the same period in 2022.
Simultaneously, the hotel occupancy rate rose by 10.1 percent.
The NCSI report provides a detailed breakdown of the nationalities among these hotel guests.
Among them, 567,447 were Omani citizens, reflecting a substantial local turnout.
The number of Gulf Cooperation Council citizens visiting the Sultanate also witnessed an increase, reaching 156,703 guests, a surge of 27.6 percent from the same period in 2022.
American tourists also contributed to the growth, with 41,079 travelers, marking a modest but positive 1.8 percent increase.
Citizens from African countries demonstrated a strong interest, with an increase of 41.2 percent, resulting in 8,361 visitors. Asian countries also significantly contributed to the tourism growth, with the number of guests surging by 43.6 percent to reach 213,980.
Additionally, guests from Oceania countries experienced an increase, with numbers surging by 204.5 percent, totaling 30,898 visitors.
In addition, Oman has witnessed a 51 percent rise in the total number of airport arrivals by the end of August 2023 when compared to August 2022.
The total number of passengers, including arrivals, departures, and transits, reached 9.38 million at Muscat, Salalah, Sohar, and Duqm airports by the end of August 2023.
