This was issued by the influential travel guide publisher “Lonely Planet,” affiliated to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The list included the best ten cities in the world to visit in 2012.  After London and Muscat, the list included Bangalore in India, Cadiz in Spain, Stockholm in Sweden, Guimaraes in Portugal, Santiago in Chile, Hong Kong, Orlando in USA and Darwin in Australia.

Sheikh Abdulmalik bin Abdullah al-Khalili, Tourism Minister said that selecting Muscat as the second best tourist destination among cities of the world, undoubtedly represents an emphasis of the efforts exerted by the Sultanate not only the development of all utilities and services, but rather in various dimensions of the modern city, such as environment, public health, landscaping and various beauty requirements that made Muscat as a unique city.

In a statement, Sheikh al-Khalili added that this appreciation coincides with declaring Muscat, the Arab Tourism Capital 2012, which provides the Tourism Ministry to use this appreciation and declaration as an additional motto for this occasion.