Oman received 652,000 visitors in 2021, down by 25.4%

Oman received 652,000 visitors in 2021, down by 25.4%

Muscat – The number of visitors to Oman in 2021 fell by 25. 4 per cent over 2020 statistics and astoundingly by 81.4 per cent compared to 2019.

According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), as many as 652,000 people visited the sultanate in 2021.

The sultanate had welcomed 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 sultanatefrom January till end 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