Dhofar Monsoon Season Attracts 962,000 Visitors, Generates RO 103m Spending

Muscat, 19 Nov (ONA) --- The number of visitors to the 2023 Dhofar Khareef (monsoon) season stood at about 962,000, compared to 813,000, an increase of 18.4 percent over statistics of the corresponding period in 2022.

Data issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) indicated that spending during Dhofar Khareef this year (2023) stood at RO 103 million, compared to RO 86 million in 2022 season.

The duration of visitors’ stay (total occupancy) during Dhofar Khareef season in 2023 surged to 7 million nights, from 6 million nights in the 2022 season.

The data showed that 666,307 Omani visitors showed up at Dhofar Khareef season venues, comprising 69.2 percent of the total number of visitors. As many as 190,853 inbound arrivals were GCC citizens (comprising 19.8 percent), compared to 68,100 visitors from Asian countries and 31,214 visitors from Arab countries. This is in addition to 3,740 visitors from Europe and 1,982 visitors from other countries.

Spending on lodgings during Dhofar Khareef in the 2023 season went up by 19.4 percent (to RO 33,068,567), as against statistics registered during the 2022 season. This constituted 32.2 percent of the total volume of spending.

Spending on food and beverages comprised 24.9 percent (RO 25,598,657) of the total volume of spending, while spending on travel tickets accounted for 18.8 percent (RO 19,268,818) and spending on other items stood at RO 24,693,979.

Omani visitors to Dhofar Khareef venues contributed 62.4 percent of the total volume of spending (a sum of RO 64,007,411), while spending by visitors from GCC states accounted for 22.5 percent (RO 23,080,186).

Spending by visitors from the Asian continent stood at RO 6,316,147 million, compared to RO 5,776,782 spending by visitors from Arab countries and RO 3,449,459 spending by visitors from other countries.

---Ends/Bishara/Anas