Oman witnessed a decline of 25.4% in number of visitors in 2021 compared to the year ago period. This drop is attributed to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), as many as 652,000 people visited the Sultanate of Oman last year. Oman saw 874,444 visitors in 2020, 3,506,441 in 2019, which was 8.2 per cent more than the 2018 figure of 3,241,757. According to the latest figures by NCSI, GCC citizens were among the top nationalities that visited the Sultanate in the 12 months of 2021. They were followed by Indian, Yemeni, and Pakistani citizens.

While 22,322 people from the UAE visited Oman in 2021, 106,042 Indian nationals also visited the sultanate.
Moreover last year, 41,823 visited from Yemen, 19,326 from Pakistan, 18,173 from Egypt, 17,000 from Germany, 13,955 from England, 12,976 from Italy and 12,729 from Iran among others.

The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) confirmed that the reason for the decline of visitors is the outbreak of COVID-19, which affected this vital sector. The ministry also confirmed that there were 193,467 cruise ship visitors in 2018, 383,488 in 2019 and 109,647 in 2020 – a decrease of 71.4 per cent compared to 2019.

According to the data released by the Directorate General of Heritage and Tourism in Dhofar, the number of visitors to the Land of Frankincense sites in the Governorate of Dhofar last year stood at 43,174. The number of visitors to Al Baleed Archeological Park and the Museum of the Frankincense Land reached 27,962, while the visitors of Samahram Archeological Site stood at 12,916. Moreover, the number of visitors to the Wubar Archeological Site reached 2,296.

(Source: Muscat Daily)