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Smoother sailing for cruise market as Oman relaxes visas

By Gavin Gibbon
Water, Waterfront, Boat Hongbin/Unsplash
A total of 229 cruise ships carried 599,000 passengers to Oman’s tourism ports, including Muscat, in 2023
  • 10-day and one-month visas
  • Available free of charge
  • Passengers up by 190% in 2023

Oman has relaxed visa regulations for cruise ship passengers visiting the sultanate.

Authorities have introduced 10-day and one-month visas aimed at growing the country’s cruise tourism sector.

Both visas, which are free of charge, are available from cruise-ship agents and are valid provided entry is made within 30 days of issue.

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The decision was announced by Lt Gen Hassan bin Mohsen al Shuraiqi, inspector general of police and customs, and came into effect from Monday.

A total of 229 cruise ships carried 599,000 passengers to Oman’s three major tourism ports in Muscat, Salalah and Khasab in 2023.

Approximately 87 ocean liners transported more than 205,000 passengers in 2022 – an increase of more than 190 percent, according to a previous report from the state-run Oman News Agency.

In March maritime and tourism authorities from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Oman combined to launch Cruise Arabia, an alliance aimed at improving the cruise experience for passengers, attracting more cruise liners to the region, improving infrastructure at ports and driving economic growth in the regional cruise tourism sector.

The resurgence in the cruise sector post-pandemic forms part of a wider period of growth for Oman’s tourism sector, which reported a 5 percent year-on-year increase in visitors to 2 million visits in the first half of 2024, up from 1.9 million visits recorded over the same period in 2023.

Emiratis and Indians continued to dominate Omani tourism figures, making up 29 percent and 16 percent of visitors to Oman respectively.

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