New arrangements include; OMR 5 single entry tourism visa for up to 10 days, OMR 20 single entry for stays between 10 days and a month, cruise ship arrivals up to 48 hours are free, OMR 5 for multiple visits
The Sultanate of Oman has made sweeping changes to its visa arrangements to lure more tourists. The new arrangements include an OMR 5 fee for a single entry tourism visa (Group 1 countries) for up to 10 days, and OMR 20 for a single entry for up to a month. Cruise arrival visas are free up to 48 hours or OMR 5 for multiple visits. The new arrangements commence immediately.
His Excellency 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 travelers.
Oman is also seeing a boom in cruise ship activity and the new visa arrangements strengthen the case for cruise lines to consider Muscat for crew and passenger exchanges.
"Changes will be welcomed by the global travel and tourism trade. The changes make Oman very attractive for the growing stopover, business and cruise passenger segments - areas of great potential. The changes also open up possibilities for a wide range of trade and consumer tactical campaigns, including our stopover campaign with Oman Air," said His Excellency, the Minister.
The reforms follow the launch of the Ministry's Oman global awareness campaign on BBC World television and web sites, the Arab League Tourism Ministers' declaration of Muscat as Arab Tourism Capital in 2012, and the launch of Oman's '1 Free Night in Oman*' stopover campaign with Oman Air.
-Ends-
For more information on:
Oman Tourism: www.omantourism.gov.om
Muscat 2012: www.muscat2012.om
1 Free Night in Oman* campaign: http://holidays.omanair.com/wy/oman-air-holidays/oman-stopover
For further information, please contact:
Orient Planet PR & Marketing Communications
Tel: +971 43988901
Fax: +971 43988941
P.O. Box 23345, Dubai, UAE
Email: media@orientplanet.com
Website: www.orientplanet.com
© Press Release 2012
