Mubasher: Oman is expected to witness more tourists between 2008 and 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% to 3.5 million.

The expected increase in tourism arrivals will be mainly supported by the growing number of Indian visitors, who made up 21% of foreign visitors in 2018, Arabian Business reported on Wednesday, citing recent data from Colliers International.

Visitors from the UK accounted for 9% of Oman’s international tourists in 2018, while Germany, the Philippines, and the UAE made up 7%, 6%, and 6%, respectively.

India will likely keep its leading position among Oman’s source markets for the coming five years.

 In addition, the Philippines is forecast to post the highest rise rate of 11%, against 10%, 7%, and 2% for the UK, Germany and the UAE, respectively.

Oman is also expected to witness additional 4,600 hotel keys by 2022 as Muscat will likely have 20 new hotels in 2019.