Significant Rise in Tourist Spending in Oman Last Year

The total spend of visitors to the Sultanate during 2015-2019 soared to RO 684.7 million (US$1.782 million) in 2019, up RO 364.8 million (US$949.929 million) in 2015, representing an annual average increase of 17%. The average spend per visitor increased 9% to RO 195.3 (US$508.55) in 2019, up from RO 138.5 (US$360.65) in 2015, the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCS) said in a new report. According to the report, the number of visitors to the Sultanate surged to 3.5 million in 2019, up from around 2.6 million visitors in 2015, representing a growth of 7.4% annually. The number of visitors coming to the Sultanate reached 3.5 million during 2019, up by 8.2% compared to 2018. GCC nationals ranked first with 40.3%, reaching 1.4 million of the total number of visitors.

Visitors came from Asian countries with 24.8% followed by European visitors with 20.7%. “If the government wants to attract visitors to the Sultanate at higher rates, it should make more efforts to upgrade the tourism sector and continue to develop its infrastructure as a promising and reliable source of income in the gross national product, in addition to targeting new markets and marketing the Sultanate as a safe and diversified tourist destination, the Centre’s latest tourism bulletin stated. Entertainment was the principal attraction with 46.4% of the total number of visitors arriving for this purpose, representing about 1.6 million of the total, followed by family and social visits (30.5%), and business (11.7%). Tourists staying for more than one night accounted for 71.3% of the total (2.5 million). The number of tourists who preferred hotels and hotel apartments for their stay during their visit to the Sultanate reached 1.6 million tourists, constituting 64.8% of the total, followed by tourists who preferred to stay with friends and family (20.5%). Males accounted for 63.5% (2.2 million) of the total, while females made up the rest (1.3 million).

Tourists spent 32.4% of their total spend on air transport in 2019, generating RO 221.8 million (US$557.561 million) for airlines and related services, compared to RO 202 million (US$526.003 million) in 2018, an increase of 9.8%. Accommodation accounted for 30.1% of the total spend, followed by food and beverages (13.5%) and shopping (7.9%). Tourists generated 19.9 million nights in 2019, representing an average of 8 nights per tourist. Visitors from the GCC accounted for 40.8% of the total (8.1 million nights), followed by Europeans (6.4 million nights), Asian countries (12.5%), Arab countries (7.9%) and others (6.7%).