Hotels and travel agents in Oman have reported an increase in bookings, and are hopeful that tourists from overseas will gradually return to the country in the coming months.
The decision by the government to allow travellers from 103 countries to spend 14 days in the country without a pre-booked visa will also help in luring more visitors.
As per a statement from the Royal Oman Police, “As part of the efforts to support the tourism sector in the Sultanate, it has been decided to extend the exemption period for the nationals of 103 countries from the entry visa for up to 14 days as part of specific regulations and conditions.”
Although the cooler winter months comprise the main tourist season in Oman, the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected international travel; however, the hoteliers in Oman opine that they have seen significant increases in domestic travelers.
Michael Kuhn, the cluster general manager for Park Inn said, “What we have seen is that people are keen to travel, but they are obviously not able to do so right now because of the pandemic, so domestic tourism has seen a rise, especially since last December. Before the borders were closed, we also did see visitors from the UAE stay with us. We are also taking many bookings for the coming months. Hopefully, this decision to temporarily shut the borders only lasts for a week and the hospitality sector can continue to recover a bit.”
“Our hotel occupancy is currently at 40 percent, which is very good when you look at the factors affecting us right now. The cruise ships that would normally come to Oman aren’t there this time around, and there is little to no international air travel anywhere around the world,” he added.
Kuhn said that tourists returning to Oman would depend on COVID-19 vaccine distribution all over the world because that would go a long way in lessening people’s travel phobia, which is currently rampant in their minds.
“Right now, one of the main issues people today have is the fear of infection if they travel, as well as the mandatory seven-day quarantine. Once vaccines are distributed across the world, and the number of cases goes down then the fear of infection will vanish, and you will see international travel resume once again,” Kuhn said.
Faiyaz Khan, the general manager of Travel Point, a travel agency in Oman, said that the cutback of the mandatory quarantine period would automatically attract more tourists to the country.
Khan said, “We have received a lot of inquiries, though, for February and March, and we had many in January as well, but the border closure has once again affected travel. When tourism to Oman does increase, the decision of the government to allow people from 103 countries to come here without pre-booking a visa will really help.”
