Oman marketing push up pays off, with 2025 visitors up 11%

• 2.4m visitors to Oman
• Hotel revenues up 22%
• Targeting 3m guests in 2026

A strong marketing campaign overseas has paid off for Omani hotels, with visitors up 11 percent year on year in 2025.

The number of people who travelled to the sultanate reached 2.4 million, the ministry of heritage and tourism said in a report.

As a result hotel revenues increased by 22 percent year on year to OR297 million ($770 million).

Oman will continue its aggressive tourism campaign in 2026, the report said, and is targeting 3 million hotel guests this year and a 30 percent rise in revenues.

Marketing campaigns in European, Asian and Arab countries paid off last year, the ministry added. They included roadshows in different countries and attending trade exhibitions such as the Dubai Airshow.

European tourists increased by 22 percent to 659,571, while tourists from Asia rose by 11 percent to 345,526 guests. 

Visitors from other GCC countries increased by 7.2 percent to 212,798.

The number of Omani travellers rose by 7 percent to 857,481 while US tourists increased by 29 percent to 79,420. 

However, tourists from other Arab countries fell by 1.6 percent to 101,377, the report said. 

Senior hotel officials said Oman must build better infrastructure to attract more international visitors to fill up the hotels.

Mehmet Tunc Mustecaplioglu, general manager of Orascom hotels in Oman, said: “The potential of filling up the hotels is real, but Oman needs better connectivity because some of the beauty spots are hard to reach because of poor transportation infrastructure.” 

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