Cruise tourist season has started in the sultanate with Port Sultan Qaboos (PSQ) and Khasab Port receiving 11,000 visitors through six ships last week, said Marafi.  

Ministry of Tourism (MoT) expects a robust turnout of ships and passengers as it expects 310 cruise calls at Omani ports during the season. Port Sultan Qaboos will see 166 visits, Port of Salalah 71 and Khasab Port 73 visits.  

The number of cruise ship passengers arriving at different ports in the sultanate has witnessed a rise of 47 per cent in the first half of 2019 as compared to the same period in 2018, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).  

Around 189,000 cruise tourists arrived in Oman till June 2019. Oman’s ports received 298 cruise ships during 2018-19 season, which runs from October to April, an increase of 106 ships over the 2017-18 season. The number of cruise ships that arrived at Port Sultan Qaboos stood at 147, Khasab Port 72 and Port of Salalah 79.  Meanwhile, the number of tourists who came on board cruise ships in 2018 stood at 193,467.