Luxury hotels in Oman see rise in tourist arrivals

Muscat: Three to five star hotels in the Sultanate registered a 4.8 per cent growth in number of guests at the end of July this year compared to the July 2016.
The total number of guests increased to 867,710 until the end of July this year compared to 827,736 at the end of July 2016, according to the data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). The total occupancy rate grew 0.3 per cent to 54.9 per cent at the end of July 2017 compared to 54.7 per cent at the end of July last year. The total revenue from three-five star hotels saw a 2.7 per cent growth to OMR107,773,000 at the end of July this year compared to OMR104,991,000 at the end of July 2016, according to the data.
There was a 33.6 per cent growth in the number of guests from the European countries to 346,770 at the end of July this year compared 259,633 at the end of July last year. Guests from the GCC countries increased to 108,766 guests this year compared to 94,560 at the end of July last year, a growth of 15 per cent.
Guests from other African countries witnessed a 16.7 per cent growth from 4,583 in 2016 to 5,349 at the end of July this year.
Interestingly, there was a 16 per cent decline in the number of the Omani guests at the three-five star hotels at the end of July this year to 233,466 compared to 277,785 until the end of July 2016.
Guests from the American countries too registered a 5.4 per cent decline from 31,157 guests at the end of July last year to 29,479 at the end of July this year.
The number of Asian guests at three-five star hotels until the end of July 2017 declined 10.2 per cent to 88,550 from 98,624 last year. There was a 1 per cent decline in the number of guests from other Arab countries compared to 37,698 until the end of July last year to 37,303 at the end of July 2017.
The number of occupants from Oceanic countries declined by 4.7 per cent to 7,190 at the end of July this year compared to 7,547 at the end of July 2016.
The number of guests whose nationality was not stated also fell from 16,147 at the end of July last year to 10,837 at the end of July 2017, a decline of 32.9 per cent according to NCSI data.