Over 200,000 cruise tourists visit Oman

By Vinod Nair — MUSCAT: March 14 - A total of 217,000 visitors arrived in Oman through cruise ships in 2016, a growth of 47.6 per cent compared to the previous year, as per the details available. The cruise tourism, which started in late November and concludes this month, has been witnessing a steady growth over the past few years, making it one of the fastest growing sectors in terms of tourists visiting to the country. On Tuesday, the ship MSC Fantasia — owned by MSC Cruises — called at Port Sultan Qaboos with 4,500 passengers of different nationalities. Last week, two massive cruise ships, Mein Schiff 3 and Vision of the Seas, with over 6,000 passengers had called at Muscat, to add to the claims that 2016-17 season has been one of the dynamic for Oman in terms of the growth of cruise tourism. Meanwhile, the hotel revenues (three to five star categories) increased by 2.3 per cent to 17 million in January 2017, compared to the same period a year ago. Visitors from Europe top the occupants followed by the number of Omanis.