More Asian tourists visited Salalah than Omanis

Muscat: More Asian nationals visited Salalah than Omanis, said the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Citing data provided by the NCSI, around 58,867 tourists had visited the southern city until Saturday, July 9.
Breaking down the figure, 23,636 visitors were of Asian nationality, compared with 20,909 Omanis.
Emirati citizens topped the number of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) tourists at 5,628, compared with 2,179 Saudis.
Around 482 Qataris, 512 Kuwaitis, 566 Bahrainis and 4,041 other Arabs visited Salalah during the same period.
Around 349 people from a diverse group of nations also travelled to Salalah since June 20.
Last year, Omanis made up for 73.4 per cent of total visitors to Salalah. However, they made up only 35.5 per cent of the total visitors during the first three weeks of the Khareef (monsoon) season.
The total number of visitors last year stood at 514,777, compared with around 431,000 in 2014, reflecting an increase of 19.4 per cent.
According to NCSI, most of them came on road trips.
Around 92 per cent of visitors last year said they have come for entertainment purposes.
According to the NCSI, 5,000 visitors per day were recorded in 2015. A total of 83.9 per cent of visitors arrived in Salalah through the land borders, compared with 71.1 per cent in 2014.
A total of 72,000 vehicles crossed the border into Dhofar. However, according to the NCSI, between May 1 and October 31, a total of 89 registered traffic accidents took place along the Nizwa-Salalah main highway, 79 per cent of them during the festival.