Tourism Growing in Oman

The mild Omani climate coupled with the Muscat Festival and the Tour of Oman has helped to create a surge in visitors to the Sultanate. As the tourists visit some of Oman’s most famous sites and landmarks they are helping increase revenue to the country.

Boats baring visitors from such faraway lands as Germany, Italy and Sweden are docking at the Port Sultan Qaboos and dropping off tourists by the hundreds, and then bringing them all along the coast of Oman and elsewhere.
The tourism sector of the economy has been a major contributor of late to the general rise in Oman’s GDP.

According to the Muscat-based tour agency Nishad,

“The tourist inflow to the country is tremendous this year and what makes the total visitors different this time is the fact that they are from various countries ranging from Italy, Germany, France, Greece, and South Africa unlike last time where majority was from Germany”.

Oman Tourism Up 15% in 2011

Oman Tourism Up

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Oman has seen a 15 percent increase in passenger arrivals to Muscat International Airport in the 12 months ending in June, 2011 as compared to 2010.

Travel Warnings Dampen Toursim

This is good news for Oman after a poor turnout of tourists in the first three months of 2011 due to international travel warnings to the area. The rebound in tourism brought about 2.23 million travelers to the Sultanate’s main airport during the course of the year.

As a result of the increase in tourism it is believed that Oman will take substantial steps to revive and improve business in the travel sector of the economy. Planning meetings for strategy and travel were held in mid-August among the heads of international offices of the Ministry of Tourism.

Tourism on the Rebound

Al Sheikh Abdulmalik Abdullah Al Khalili, the Minister of Tourism in Oman released a statement saying:

“Travel to Oman has rebounded strongly with most of Oman’s key tourism source markets recording remarkable year on year growth. The highest growth came from Italy (60 per cent), UAE (31 per cent), Germany (22 per cent), France (14 per cent) and The Netherlands (8 per cent).

“Our European trade partners are reporting solid forward bookings so we expect a strong end of year result for Oman’s tourism industry.”

Sultanate Planning for More Tourism

Analysis of the IATA data show detailed results which can help the Sultanate’s planning for future tourism. A comparison of June’s travel statistics in 2011 and 2010 shows that all tourism source-markets showed improvement except for tourism from the United Kingdom. This is believed to be due to austerity measures placed on Britons to discourage long international trips. However in Italy there was a 228 percent increase in tourism to Oman; the Netherlands showed a 52 percent increase; and from Belgium 33 percent more tourists came to Oman.

This data also highlights the positive impact of Oman Air’s services to our larger volume markets such as France, Germany and the UAE.

“Arrivals from France and Germany continue to increase since the start of non-stop services in late 2009. We expect similar positive outcome from Oman Air services to Zurich in October and Moscow in November,” added the Tourism Minister Sheikh Abdulmalik Abdullah Al Khalili.

Oman’s Port to be Transformed to Exclusive Tourist Hub

Port Sultan Qaboos

As part of Oman’s master plan to develop tourism into a major part of its GDP, Port Sultan Qaboos is slated to be turned into an exclusive hub for tourists to Oman and the rest of the region.

Today the port is the Sultanate’s main harbor for the import and export of cargo. The goal in Oman is that the development of the port will be part of an expansion of the tourist trade in general until it becomes 2.4% of the country’s GDP.

A joint statement was issued by the ministries of transport and communications explaining the intention to soon creating a master plan:

“The two ministries will develop the master plan and detailed designs for the port and its associated services and utilities in coordination with the concerned government and private establishments.

“It will be totally dedicated to tourism,” a joint statement said.

The present activities at Port Sultan Qaboos will be transferred to the port in Sohar in as smooth a way as possible “to ensure non-conflict with the existing concession agreement for the management and operation of Port Sultan Qaboos.”