Arabian Business, Sunday, Jun 28, 2020 | Zul Qaadah 07, 1441
Oman hotel revenues drop 42.2% in first four months of 2020
Oman:
The total revenue of Omani hotels in the three-to-five-star category fell
by 42.2 percent in the first four months of the year to OR55.18 million
($143.5m), compared to the same period in 2019, as the impact of the coronavirus
took hold.
According to the latest figures from the National Centre for Statistics and
Information (NCSI), hotel occupancy rates dropped to 42.5 percent by the end of
April, compared to 67.1 percent last year.
The total number of guests in Omani hotels fell by 41.2 percent in the first
four months of 2020, reaching 401,477 guests from 683,166 guests for the same
period in 2019.
Among the nationalities, Europeans constituted
the maximum number of visitors, reaching 157,733. This was followed by
124,378 Omani guests and 37,862 Asian tourists, the data released by NCSI
revealed.
There was an overall drop in the number of guests of all nationalities until
the end of April, with American guests and GCC guests falling by 38.2
percent and 43.7 percent to reach 14,298 and 32,536 guests, respectively.
There was also a drop in the number of African, Oceanian and other Arab
guests by 35.1 percent, 27.5 percent and 48.4 percent to reach 2,801; 4,535,
and 13,529 guests, respectively.
Omani hotels received 1.77m guests and the
hotels generated a total revenue of RO229.5m ($597m) in 2019.
It comes as Oman's Ministry of Health announced on Saturday 919 new
coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the
sultanate to 36,953.
The Oman News Agency, ONA, quoted the ministry as saying that the country
had also registered 159 deaths as a result of the disease.