To bring momentum to the tourism growth and to encourage more travellers to visit the country, the Royal Oman Police has recently announced a new short-term tourist visa at five Omani Riyal (OMR) to visit the Sultanate for a period of 10 days. Which means, Indians who hold a valid visa to any one of these countries – United States of America, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Japan and Schengen States can avail the Oman visa through an e-visa process by simply logging on to https://evisa.rop.gov.om/ and make the five OMR payment on checkout, whereas other Indian travellers can get a sponsored visa by paying five OMR plus processing fee through their tour operators. This is in addition to the existing e-visa for Oman which is available at 20 OMR with a validity of one month. The amendments include dividing tourist visas into three sections: 10 days, one month and one year.
Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative, ministry of tourism, Oman said, “An exotic, adventurous, historic, remarkable and geologically stunning Oman offers the most authentic Arabian experience to its visitors. Along with FIT, we have seen an increase in MICE tourism with the recent launch of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre in Muscat that supports international and local organisations in hosting large events. Also, many new international hotel chains that have recently opened in Oman have increased the number of rooms and venues in the country.
Oman being a short-haul destination from India, with excellent air connectivity from major Indian cities, world class hotels and easy availability of Indian food, is also becoming a preferred wedding destination. The reduced visa fees, new e-visa system, along with the newly opened Muscat International Airport will definitely be a boon for Oman’s tourism. With the visa policy we see more travellers adding Oman to their long-weekend bucket list.”
With a total of three million and 300 thousand tourists visiting last year, the Sultanate enjoyed a strong 4.7 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of international travellers. Oman’s 20-year strategy has already begun bearing fruit and is well on track to raise visitor numbers to five million per annum by 2040. The strategy hinges on developing dedicated tourism clusters in destinations such as Muscat, Musandam, Al Hajjar Mountains, Frankincense trail in Salalah and multiple desert areas popular with adventure tourists.