THE Sultanate of Oman has made sweeping changes to its visa arrangements to lure more tourists. The new arrangements include an OMR5 ($12) fee for a single entry tourism visa for up to 10 days, and OMR20 ($51) for a single entry for up to a month. Cruise arrival visas are free up to 48 hours or OMR5 ($12) for multiple visits. The new arrangements commence immediately.
Sheikh Abdulmalik Al Khalili, Oman’s Minister of Tourism said, “This is great news for Oman’s tourism industry and our international travel and tourism trade partners. The government has moved proactively to improve Oman’s competitiveness in stop-over, short-stay and conference tourism.
The changes also encourage travel to Salalah and other regional destinations, and conference organizers to consider Oman as an event location.”
The Oman Ministry of Tourism sees the new arrangements as an important structural change to boost Oman’s tourism performance. In the short-term, the Ministry expects a lift in leisure and short stay visits from the GCC market.
Oman Air’s rapidly growing passenger transit market is also of interest to Oman’s tourism operators. For the year ending September 2011, the transit market is estimated at around 787,000 passenger movements and growing at around 19 per cent per year. This includes around 80,100 premium travellers.