Muscat: The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) is working on a joint promotion to operate charter planes to the Dhofar Governorate from Europe and also from other countries for the first time.
Salim Mohammed al Mahrouqi, Minister of Tourism, made the announcement in response to the recent figures that showed a large number of foreign and domestic tourists visited the Dhofar governorate for Khareef this year.
According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the number of Khareef visitors between June 21 to August 15 stood at 739,884, an increase of 16.3 percent, compared to the same period in 2022.
The number of visitors who came to the governorate in August itself saw an increase of 46 percent from the previous year.
Of these, 158,161 visitors (around 29 percent) came by flight compared to 571,723 visitors who traveled by road. With national airlines making efforts to augment the seating capacity, the number of air travelers increased from around 16 percent last month.
Between June 1 and June 30, the Dhofar governorate received 20, 746 Khareef visitors (18,511 in 2022), 375,362 visitors (332,687 in 2022 between July 1-31, and 343,776 (285,021 in 2022) between August 1-31. The number of Omani visitors to Khareef Dhofar during this period was 516,276, while 125,889 visitors from other GCC states showed up at Khareef Dhofar season this year, compared to 107,604 in 2022. The number of tourists of other nationalities increased to 97,716 in 2023 from 83,382 in 2022.
It may be noted that passenger movement at Salalah had increased by 32 percent to 183,167 in July 2023 compared to 137,741 in June 22. The aircraft movement increased by 26 percent to 1,612 in July 2023 from 1,282 during the same period a year ago, according to the latest figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
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