Up to four million international tourists will arrive in Oman by the year 2020, a study says.

The arrivals internationally are set to touch 1.56 billion level, the study by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) predicts.

The study, titled "Tourism 2020 Vision" is the WTO's forecast and assessment of the development of tourism in the first 20 years of the new millennium.

The Sultanate's growth rate anticipated for the years 1995-2020 is expected at 11.5 per cent annually, it said.

Of the worldwide arrivals of 1.56 billion in the next 20 years, about 1.18 billion would be intra-regional while the remaining represent long haul travellers, the WTO report said.

Europe would be on the top receiving region with 717 million arrivals followed by East Asia and the Pacific (397 million) and the Americas (282 million), the study said.

In the world tourism market, Middle East is placed just ahead of South Asia with three per cent share of the global market last year, the report said.

WTO said Europe last year held 57 per cent share of the global tourism market followed by Americas (19 per cent), East Asia and the Pacific (16 per cent), Africa (4 per cent), Middle East (3 per cent) and south Asia with one per cent, the report said.

In terms of growth of tourist arrivals, Middle East topped the global statistics. In the year 2000, Middle East recorded a significant 19.9 per cent growth over 1999, it said.