Oman tourism: More than 600,000 visit Salalah

Muscat: More than 600,000 tourists visited Salalah until September 5.
The number of visitors to Salalah during Khareef “Monsoon season” during this period surged by a whopping 21.4 per cent compared with figures for the same period last year, according to statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Total visitors rose to 615,948 as of September 5 from 507,225 visitors during the comparable period last year.
The NCSI statistics showed that as many as 125,323 visitors reached Salalah by air as against 490,625 who arrived by road. Giving a break-up of the number of visitors by air, the statistical report said the majority of them – numbering 80,456 visitors arrived on domestic flights while international carriers brought in 44,867 visitors.
Significantly, during the period, visitors from the Sultanate registered a significant growth of 20.6 per cent with their numbers reaching 452,195 visitors, compared with last year’s 375,084 inland visitors.
Khareef visitors from the GCC (including the Sultanate) swelled in numbers by 22.6 per cent to touch 557,655 as against 454,739 visitors last year.
There has been a 40.2 per cent rise in the number of visitors from other Arab countries at 13,643 as against 9,730 recorded last year during the period.