Tourism

European tourists push up Oman hotel revenues

June 11, 2025, 10:59 AM

Tourists in the Wadi Shab valley in Oman. European visitors boosted the country's hotel numbers

European tourists helped the Oman hotel industry reach a record number of stays year on year in April, thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign.

Hotel occupancy rose 9 percent year on year to reach 831,751 guests in April 2025, with around 40 percent of the guests coming from Europe, the National Center for Statistical Information (NCSI), said.

Hotel revenues rose by 17 percent year on year to $283 million over the same period.

“Our aggressive campaigns in the last two years have paid off with our marketing efforts in different European capitals promoting Oman as a destination of historical sites, heritage, beautiful beaches and adventure tourism,” Salim bin Mohammed Al Mahrouqi, minister of heritage and tourism was quoted as saying by the state-owned Oman News Agency (ONA).

The Gulf state is building resorts in different parts of the country to increase the number of tourists.

It has awarded contracts worth more than $600 million to build three tourist resorts and an adventure park as it steps up efforts to compete with its Gulf neighbours for hospitality revenue and create jobs for its citizens.

Oman gets about three million tourists annually but, as part of its 2040 strategy, it has ambitions to increase this number to 16 million.

Hospitality experts based in Oman say the sultanate should be more aggressive and double up its hotel occupancy to keep up the momentum.

“This should not be a flash in the pan. Oman must continue to market itself throughout the year globally and not just in Europe. It must extend its marketing campaign to Asia and Oceania countries as well,” Mike Hamilton, a retired general manager of Crowne Plaza, told AGBI.