Muscat: The revenues of 3-5-star hotels in Oman stood at RO 24,751 million at the end of January 2024, up by 17.1% compared to the same period in 2023. Statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) show that the total number of hotel guests rose by 20.5% to 215,660 by the end of January 2024, compared to 178,945 during the corresponding period in 2023. Meanwhile, hotel occupancy rate registered a growth of 16.2%. According to the NCSI report, among the nationalities, Omanis topped the number of guests in hotels, with their numbers reaching 75,219. Meanwhile, 73,325 were European guests (an increase of 17.9%), and 27,191 were Asian guests (up by 27.8%). The number of guests from the GCC countries increased by 10.5% to 11,961 and the number of American guests reached 7,231. The number of guests from Oceanian countries rose by 4% to 3,877 and those from African countries rose by 38.8% to reach 1,148. Source: Oman News Agency Damascus, Four Syrian teams qualified for the International Collegiate Programming Contest, that obtained advanced places in the regional final of the 2024 Programming Competition for University Colleges in the Arab World and Africa. The Programming Contest was organized last week by the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in the Egyptian city of Luxor, with the participation of 137 teams from more than From 73 universities. Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said in its statement that, the qualified Syrian teams represent the universities of Damascus and Tishreen, the Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, and the Syrian Virtual University, with one team from each university. The statement added that Syria was represented in the contest by 15 teams from eight universities. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency