Muscat: Hotels in Oman welcomed close to 19,310 guests in July, a figure that was up by 5,000 compared to the previous month. The recently released August bulletin of National Centre of Statistics and Information (NCSI) Oman also shows Omanis on top of the list of hotel guests for the months of May, June and July this year.
While the upward curve reflects a positive indicator in the hospitality sector the year-on-year figure indicates a deep chasm. Among the major contributors to Omani hotel industry last year were Europeans with close to 156,026 guests checking in between Jan to July2019, which fell by 56.1 per cent for a similar period this year. Revenues fell by 54.5 per cent till the end of July this year, compared to the same period of 2019. Cumulatively this year till July saw close to 429000 guests which is down by 56.6 per cent compared to same period last year.
Maximum occupancy
Travel restrictions from countries near and far, due to the current pandemic situation, had severely impacted the arrival of guests from oversees. Even then, the month of July saw maximum occupancy, when compared to the previous months of June and May, which was due to the Eid holidays and lockdown break in Oman that started from July 25. Many residents and citizens who were confined to their homes opted for a change of scene as they stayed up in hotel rooms, in what was trending as staycations.
Many hotels in Oman had special deals for staycation guests, with most of the hotels recording optimum occupancy during these times.
The number of Europeans followed Omanis with 1103 Europeans checking into hotels in July. There is a sizeable European community in Oman, who love the beaches, mountains and the peaceful life that Oman offers. Third in this list are Asians, with 890 of them checking into hotels in July, closely followed by 710 Americans.
Hotels are also now offering ‘Daycation’ package for those who wish to spend the day in a hotel, returning home by night.
