tourism strategy oman

The Business Year

Bringing Tourism to Oman in 2024

By TBY | Oman | Feb 22, 2024

Image credit: Shutterstock / Kertu

Two years of COVID-19 has only served to pull the bow back further, providing an even more powerful trajectory for the global tourism industry. Oman, pursuing its 2040 Vision of economic diversification , is determined not to miss out on this.

In December 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, the government announced a raft of tourism-related investments aimed at lifting visitor revenue to USD22.5 billion by 2040, almost nine times the 2019 figure.

The Sultanate welcomed roughly 3.2 million tourists in 2021, a 12% increase on the previous year.

Oman is also keen to showcase its wider tourism appeal from sun-based leisure to cultural discovery to tap regional as well as wider international interest.

Two sides of the coin

Government support for a competitive, high-quality industry of diversity offerings has involved local training for employment, along with the engagement of local SMEs to build and service Oman’s tourism assets.

Private capital loves an incentive, and the Tourism Ministry has formulated a mechanism that includes usufruct contracts for tourist lands, ceding potential investors legal rights to use and derive income from tourism assets.

The government’s designated bridge between public and private sectors is the Oman Tourism Development Company (OMRAN Group).

The group, set up in 2005, is tasked with executing the 2040 National Tourism Strategy. It identifies priority investments and schemes of the greatest potential. OMRAN Group is also the champion of sector sustainability, and of the proliferation of local lifestyle communities that can contribute diversely to wider economic growth.

It is also effectively a watchdog ensuring that development builds on, rather than overshadows Oman’s traditional culture and natural environment.

Training for tomorrow

The tourism sector requires a steady stream of qualified workers at all levels to sustain sector momentum and advance the process of Omanization. OMRAN’s Midhyaf initiative does this, being a specialized training for employment’ program partnering the Ministry of Labor.

Students at the Oman Tourism College (OTC) receive real-world training at OMRAN’s hospitality assets, including the W Muscat, Crowne Plaza Resort Salalah, Crowne Plaza Muscat, Crowne Plaza Duqm, Alila Jabal Akhdar, InterContinental Muscat, Barcelo Mussanah Resort, and Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Training to exacting international standards raises the level of national competency demanded by the private sector.

Midhyaf also benefits from partnerships with world-leader hospitality academies and institutes such as the Saudi Academy of Culinary Arts (ZADK), the British Butler Institute, and the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI).

Manning the ship

The 2,000 or so initial applicants to Midhyaf confirmed the young population’s faith in the sector. And in October of 2022, as part of the celebration of Omani Youth Day, OMRAN Group applauded its first graduates.

These individuals had received between four to nine months of specialized on-the-job training. And as OMRAN notes, the graduates had “received the opportunity to earn up to 11 professional certificates based on the type of training program they pursued.”

On the day Qais Zahir Al Hosni, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oman Tourism College (OTC), voiced hopes that gradates would “transfer the knowledge and skills they learned at OTC to their workplace [thereby] raising Oman’s profile in their respective fields and areas of expertise.”

Midhyaf is just a part of Oman’s tourism content-building drive. At the graduation ceremony, OMRAN Group revealed the Tumoohi Syiahi project (My ambition is Tourism), an umbrella program for all training and development schemes, including Midhyaf, the pathways program (Masarat), and the Tadreeb training program.

Lateral thinking

It seems then, that Oman is banking on competitiveness to optimize its tourism sector, by stimulating the growth of new verticals. Jasim Al Alawi the CEO & Founder of adventure tourism business Darrbak tells TBY that, “The thing is, Oman is more focused on real estate in tourism. However, we do not need a five-star hotel or resort; we need more experiences and activities.”

He goes on to add that “In the entire GCC, there are two places where you can find ad-venture tourism.” He notes, too, that five languages are spoken in Oman, with each group of speakers representing a unique culture to be discovered.

Meanwhile, Issa Al Sawafi, the Founder of adventure tourism enterprise Wadi Adventure, highlights the communal current running through the sector. “Many of the adventure tourism companies that have been established were a direct result of the community that I started.”

This shared responsibility of all players to raise overall excellence chimes perfectly with the National Tourism Strategy. And naturally enough, a wider awareness of what Oman is all about builds the soft power crucial to its international standing, and is key to bringing tourism to Oman in 2024.

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Oman launches a 25-year tourism strategy

Oman | Tourism

In early 2016 Oman launched its National Tourism Strategy (NTS), with the primary aim to increase international arrivals to 11.7m visitors per year by 2040, up from 2.6m arrivals in 2015. The initiative also seeks to boost tourism’s contribution to GDP to more than 6%, from 2.6% today. To achieve these goals, the new plan has been designed in phases: preparation, growth and stability. “The announcement of the 2040 tourism strategy for Oman provides us with a clearly defined and structured roadmap for future growth, ensuring tourism becomes one of the most important economic pillars for the country’s future,” Salim Al Mamari, director-general of tourism promotion at the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), told attendees at the Arabian Travel Market conference in April 2016.

In addition to increasing hotel stock and employment, the government plans to develop and promote a series of destinations – or clusters – across the sultanate, offering visitors a broader variety of experiences, with the goal of encouraging extended visits and greater engagement with the country’s culture and natural sites. While the government wants to maintain and grow its already strong domestic tourism market, the new strategy places a heavy emphasis on promoting Oman as a destination for international visitors, who in the past might have overlooked the country for other destinations in the region or further afield.

Mark Kirk, general manager of Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa, believes making the tourism sector and the country more attractive to investors is a priority, as their fiscal support will be decisive in the successful development of the new tourism infrastructure. “The government needs to make concessions on Omanisation targets, incentivise airlines to land in Oman and undertake visa liberalisation,” he said.

The creation of unique tourism clusters that utilise the natural and cultural resources available to them will be key to the implementation of the NTS. The MoT has picked 14 such locations across the country, which it aims to promote internationally and grow into key attractions for tourists. Some of these sites are already well known, while others have not yet developed an international reputation. Examples include the coastal areas of the Musandam Governorate and the Frankincense Trail in Dhofar, which will be developed over the next decade and a half, becoming destinations in their own right or potentially forming part of a broader itinerary of travel across the sultanate.

The development plans for each destination are to be formulated over the coming years, with each cluster likely to be targeted for a specific type of visitor or experience. This approach can significantly broaden the types of visitors Oman receives.

Beyond the headline visitor numbers and contribution to GDP figures, the new tourism strategy aims to add more than 500,000 direct jobs to the sector by 2040, with the target of filling 75% of those positions with Omani nationals. Maitha Al Mahrouqi, undersecretary of the MoT, says this requires a step-by-step approach. In order to succeed, the ministry needs to work with existing tourism colleges and training institutes, as well as industry players already in the market, to build up the human resource capacity necessary to grow the sector. It will also require a greater awareness of the opportunities available to those who might consider starting a career in the sector, which will demand a strong, government-led campaign.

“To start with, there is a need for a nationwide awareness campaign regarding the importance of tourism to the future of the economy, coupled with clear communication on the variety of jobs available in the sector, as well as the related career prospects,” Al Mahrouqi told OBG. “The Oman tourism strategy has a detailed plan on the training and educational process that needs to take place to prepare the workforce in the tourism industry. This includes formal training programmes both in Oman and in specialised institutes abroad, as well as on-the-job training within the sultanate,” she said.

As well as a capable workforce, securing the financing to upgrade Oman’s transport and urban infrastructure will be vital. These are needed if the sultanate is to welcome the higher visitor numbers that have been projected under its tourism strategy, particularly in and around the clusters being developed in more remote areas of the country. Estimates have placed the cost of the new government strategy in the region of $35bn, and the government is seeking considerable support from the private sector to make this possible. The MoT is expecting to attract more than 88% of the investment needed from the private sector.

This push for greater private sector involvement in the strategic growth of the tourism sector – whether via public-private partnerships, strategic investments or 100% private projects – will be an engine for job creation and innovation, and could encourage a similar approach in other areas of the economy. Such a drive is also a marked change from previous years. “We did not invite private sector involvement in tourism in the past; however, since 2015 we have been engaging the private sector and we recognise its importance,” Salah Salem Al Ghazali, chief information officer at Omran, the government’s tourism development arm, told OBG. “We have invited private sector investment in our hotels. For example, in 2016 we sold 20% of the Crowne Plaza being constructed at the new Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre to local pension funds,” he said. The MoT must continue to seek more agreements like this to achieve the goals it has set in the NTS. According to Kirk, the sultanate’s tourism authorities are also putting together a tourism advisory board to receive feedback and advice from industry leaders. “They are going to bring in hotels, tour operators and consultants and will then look at the various obstacles to attracting more investment into the country,” he said.

The successful engagement of private sector players in these early stages signifies the high level of interest in Oman’s tourism industry. However, specific details concerning how the government will raise the remaining 12%, or $4.2bn, of funds required for the plan’s implementation have yet to be announced.

Aiming High

While ambitious, sector stakeholders see the new tourism strategy targets as achievable, and believe the plan could succeed in making Oman a regional hotspot for visitors. “The growth figures for tourism are not that high if one considers the vastness of the country, and even if those numbers are achieved, the sultanate will not be oversaturated,” Kirk told OBG. One of the main targets for the first five years of the strategy is to establish plans for the development of five of the 14 tourism clusters and to begin work on implementing them. The effective rollout of this first phase will be critical in helping the overarching strategy gather momentum, while monitoring key performance metrics – such as the sector’s contribution to direct employment and GDP as well as tourist numbers – will assist with the ongoing management of the NTS.

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The Sultanate of Oman is located at the corner of the Arabian Peninsula overseeing the strategic Strait of Hormuz (Fig. 1 ). It has a land area of 309,900 km 2 (119,650 mi 2 ) and a population of around 4.6 million (National Center for Statistics and Information 2021 ). In 2019, Oman’s GDP was US$75.16 billion, with petroleum activities contributing 34.4% (National Center for Statistics and Information 2020 ).

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Al-Haddad, F. 2006. A’siyaha fi Sultanat Uman [Tourism in the Sultanate of Oman]. Muscat: Al-Dharmi.

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National Center for Statistics and Information. 2019. Tourism statistics bulletin 2019 . Muscat: National Center for Statistics and Information.

———. 2020. Oman economic features 2019 . Muscat: National Center for Statistics and Information.

———. 2021. Demographic and economic atlas 2020 . Muscat: National Center for Statistics and Information.

UNESCO. 2021. World heritage list. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list . Accessed 01 Mar.

World Economic Forum. 2019. Travel & tourism competitiveness report 2019 . Geneva: World Economic Forum.

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Al-Azri, H. (2023). Oman Tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_287-2

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Oman attracts $4.4bn in tourism investments as it seeks to diversify economy

Plans to develop the sector include updating tourism laws and granting incentives on investment projects.

An Omani family stands by the waterfront in the Mutrah area of the capital Muscat. AFP

Oman has attracted more than half of the targeted 3 billion Omani rials ($7.8bn) in tourism investments planned between 2021 and 2023 as part of its development scheme .

The sultanate has so far so far managed to attract $4.4bn in tourism investments, , state-run Oman News Agency (ONA) cited Salim Al Mahrouqi, Oman's Minister of Heritage and Tourism, as saying,

Oman's tourism development plan includes establishing a system for governance, modernising the legal framework, updating tourism laws and their executive regulations, overhauling the cultural heritage law and frameworks related to an agreement for granting incentives for investment projects, ONA reported.

The sultanate is seeking to develop its tourism sector as part of its Vision 2040 to diversify the economy and reduce its reliance on oil.

Oman, a small crude oil producer compared with its Gulf neighbours, is more sensitive to oil price swings and was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the collapse in oil prices in 2014.

In May, the number of overseas tourists rose to 216,348, up 35-fold from 6,036 visitors in the same month last year, according to the latest report by Oman's National Centre for Statistics.

More than half of these were visiting from the Gulf, followed by other Arab states, Asia, Europe and the US in the top five.

The number of hotel guests in Oman's three to five-star establishments more than doubled to 140,000 in May, from the same month a year earlier, the data showed.

Hotel occupancy reached 42.8 per cent during May, compared to 24 per cent in the same month last year.

Hotels more than tripled their revenue in May, earning 13m rials, up from 4m rials in May 2021, as the number of guests increased, according to the report.

Oman expects to earn more than 9bn rials a year from tourism by 2040, up from 1.2bn rials in 2019 before the pandemic, Maitha Al Mahrouqi, undersecretary of tourism in the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, told The National in December 2021.

Last month Fitch Solutions maintained a positive outlook for tourism recovery in Oman during 2022 and 2023, with stronger growth projected in the medium term between 2024 to 2026.

The market has seen a “notable recovery” since the fourth quarter of 2021, following the pandemic in 2020 and the first nine months of 2021, it said in a report in June.

“Underlying growth momentum over the coming years will be supported by the strategic Vision 2040 economic diversification agenda and the highly capitalised position of the state's tourism development authority, Omran”, it said.

“As of late May 2022, the government continues to aggressively implement its rebound strategy, unveil digital marketing initiatives and announce new sector specific investments.”

However, downside risks to tourism include coronavirus mutations and further spillover from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its impact on the commodities market, Fitch Solutions said.

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Oman To Set New Tourism Growth Trajectory Amid Robust Arrivals Growth

Tourism / Oman / Tue 19 Mar, 2024

Key View: We forecast Oman’s arrivals to grow by 24.7% y-o-y in 2024 to a total of 5.3mn. The 2024 arrivals levels will be a new high, building on the most recent historic peak in 2023. Arrivals will continue to expand over the remainder of our medium-term forecast period (2024-2028) to reach a projected 10.8mn by 2028. Our forecasted arrivals growth trajectory for Oman indicates that the market will achieve its target of 11.0mn tourists by 2040. 

Total Arrivals In Oman To Breach Record Levels In 2024

We at BMI forecast Oman’s arrivals to grow by 24.7% y-o-y in 2024 to reach 5.3mn. Our view is supported by Oman’s National Centre for Statistics full year arrivals figures for 2023, published in a report in January 2024, indicating that the market had 4.3mn arrivals in 2023. According to the report published by Oman’s National Centre for Statistics, GCC markets accounted for 1.6mn arrivals in 2023. Arrivals from India reached 610,000 arrivals in 2023 while arrivals from Germany reached 150,000. The top five source markets for Oman were completed by Mainland China with 118,000 arrivals.

Oman's Tourist Arrivals To Reach New Highs

Oman - total tourist arrivals (2014-2028).

Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) has set a target of reaching 11.0mn tourists by 2040 as part of its Vision 2040 strategy. Our projected medium-term (2024-2028) arrivals growth trajectory indicates that the country will be on track to achieve this target. We forecast Oman’s arrivals growth to be robust over the medium term, growing by an annual average of 20.4% y-o-y between 2024-2028, to reach 10.8mn arrivals in 2028. Increased arrivals over the medium term will be driven by key source markets across the GCC, as well as Asia-Pacific and European markets. 

GCC Region Will Be The Main Source Market For Oman 

Weaker economic growth, high living costs and tighter credit conditions are having a negative impact on consumer purchasing power in most markets globally in 2024, limiting discretionary spending. This poses a downside risk for Oman’s arrivals from Asia Pacific and European markets over 2024 due to consumers shifting travel patterns to focus on short and medium-haul travel. We expect Oman’s tourism sector to remain resilient, particularly over the medium-to-long term. Oman is easily accessible for travellers from its key source markets across the GCC due to regional proximity and strong transport links. Low barriers to entry to Oman will be supported by high household disposable incomes across markets in the region. This will drive demand for experiential products and services such as travel and hospitality. 

Luxury Travel Options Opens Oman To Wider Source Markets

Oman is also well-positioned to attract travellers from beyond the GCC, who are seeking luxury holiday options. Oman will compete with its GCC peers as an attractive tourism destination. This will become salient as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE governments are increasing their focus on expanding their individual tourism product offerings as part of wider economic diversification efforts in these markets. Oman will equally need to strengthen its tourism promotion strategies to, while differentiating its offerings from its regional peers. 

In March 2024, the Omran Tourism Development Company (Omran Group) participated in the ITB Berlin tourism trade show between March 5-7 2024. The ITB Berlin aims to promote and strengthen collaboration between global travel, tourism and hospitality industry players. The Omran Group collaborated with ITB Berlin for Oman to be the official partner host country for the 2024 edition of the trade show under the Experience Oman brand. The Omran Group also used the trade show as an opportunity to launch its latest tourism marketing campaign titled See Double. The marketing campaign launch took place in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA). The See Double summer campaign is aimed at attracting visitors to explore the nature of the Ras Al Khaimah and Musandam governates of Oman. In March 2024, Visit Oman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner with DidaTravel, a Mainland China-based technology-driven travel distribution company, to promote Oman as a travel destination to Chinese travellers. The partnership with DidaTravel aims to leverage the company’s network of more than 25,000 travel trade partners in China.   

This commentary is published by BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, and is not a comment on Fitch Ratings Credit Ratings. Any comments or data included in the report are solely derived from BMI and independent sources. Fitch Ratings analysts do not share data or information with BMI. Copyright © 2023 Fitch Solutions Group Limited. All rights reserved. 30 North Colonnade, London E14 5GN, UK.

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Oman’s 2040 Tourism Strategy: RO20bn investments, more than 500,000 jobs

The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) on Tuesday unveiled its 2040 strategy which will see investments of around RO20bn and creation of more than half a million jobs.

H E Maitha bint Saif al Mahrouqi, Undersecretary in MoT unveiled a strategy for potential private sector investors at a forum held at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Council of Ministers had approved the tourism strategy on Sunday.

The ministry is looking to invest around RO20bn for its strategy through 2040. A great majority of that investment (86-89 per cent) will be through the private sector.

The ministry wants to provide around 80,000 rooms for accommodation: 33,373 hotel rooms, 29,287 vacation home rooms and 17,262 integrated tourism complex (ITC) rooms.

Muscat’s share of accommodation is expected to decrease from 53 per cent now to 30.8 per cent in 2040 as more hotel rooms come up in other parts of the country. Dhofar’s share will rise from 12.6 per cent to 23.8 per cent.

The ministry expects at least 11.7mn international and domestic tourists in 2040, a big jump from 1.4mn in 2013. MoT has identified five types of natural sites for tourism: Wildlife, mountains, wadis, deserts and coasts. It has also identified five elements of culture and heritage: Cities and villages, world heritage sites, cultural heritage, symbols, and norms and traditions. Fourteen clusters of tourist infrastructure will be built around the country as per regional attributes.

These include coastal areas, bronze and iron age ruins, castles, mountains, villages and wadis, bedouin region and Rub al Khali.

The ministry expects tourism to create 535,574 direct and indirect jobs by 2040 compared to 89,413 now. The strategy will be implemented in three stages: Preparation (2016-20), Growth (2021-30) and Stability (2031-40). More than 30 public entities and 50 private entities will be involved in implementing the strategy. These include the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Supreme Council for Planning, ROP and Oman Air.

MoT itself will be reformatted to align with the strategy, and new departments will be created to follow-up implementation. Staff will also receive new training and education. The ministry will evaluate implementation using a scorecard.

H E Maitha said that more than 700 people contributed to forming the strategy, which included a series of workshops. The ministry took 12 weeks to prepare the draft of the strategy.

Canberra: 12:12 pm, June 3 Oman: 6:12 am, June 3

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Oman’s tourism strategy to focus on luxury, nature, adventure

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman will be showcased as a destination that will offer tourists top-quality products focused on luxury, adventure, and nature.

Speaking to the Observer, Asma al Hajri, Deputy Director-General of Tourism Promotion, said, “It is very important to showcase the Sultanate of Oman as a niche tourist destination as defined in our marketing strategy.

Like many other destinations which have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. however, we are looking for a brighter future ahead of us and I am optimistic that the travel industry will revive back again soon . The travel industry is a resilient industry, consumers are looking into experiences when traveling abroad and this is what Oman is unique and offers to our guests.

This event will help to decrease the impact of the pandemic by having global key players meeting together face to face with our Omani trade partners in order to engage and put the sultanate of Oman on a global map.

Our beautiful country is now open and ready to welcome visitors all around the globe, thanks to our government which has relaxed the travel restrictions.

Al Hajri said 2019 is our year of benchmark and we are hoping to go back to the same numbers eventually our target goal is to increase between 30% to 50% in the coming year, which is possible as the ministry has reopened representative offices in key source markets such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Nordic countries and India and as well with the help of our national carrier Oman air to increase the air capacity in those markets.

Ministry of heritage and tourism hosting the Global Travel Week Middle East for the first time in the Sultanate of Oman, she said, “We brought 70 buyers from all over the world and most of them are from Europe, the Middle East, and India.

“The purpose is to strengthen the relationship between Omani partners and international buyers. It will give the opportunity to showcase what Oman offers - luxury products, adventure, and the blessed nature of our country.”

Global Travel Week Middle East Edition of the private luxury event in Oman is expected to strengthen the commitment to supporting the region’s travel and tourism development.

The event in partnership with the Oman Ministry of Heritage & Tourism will showcase the finest luxury product to 70 selected global travel buyers and 38 local agencies.

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Oman sets new tourism vision for 2040

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Oman…Naturally is the competitive positioning that forms the foundation of the Oman marketing strategy.

Our job entailed a detailed analysis and evaluation of the current marketing strategy, market based representatives and source markets.  Based on this a market growth strategy was formulated including positioning, target markets, e-marketing and a phased implementation strategy with budgets and time frames.  The core strategy is to retain the unspoilt, natural Arabian character of Oman to differentiate it from other man-made and mass tourism destination in the Gulf.

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Monday, June 03, 2024

‘Governorates Tourism’ initiative to target lower-tier projects in Oman

The ministry of economy has launched the ‘governorates tourism’ initiative to stimulate and support the sector across oman's governorates, with a ro 15 million award for the best tourism project..

Oman News Agency

[email protected], sunday, june 2, 2024.

Muscat – The initiative focuses on ‘lower-tier projects’, aiming to develop local attractions, springs, valleys, and historic sites. This approach prioritizes projects that benefit the local economy, fostering development in communities and empowering small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). It also seeks to create new job opportunities for Omanis within the governorates.

H.E. Dr. Nasser bin Rashid Al Maawali, Undersecretary of Economy, highlighted that this initiative marks a significant phase in Oman’s economic transformation, with the prize fund standing at RO 15 million.

Governorates will submit their projects for evaluation by a technical committee, in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, based on specific criteria. The award could be granted to one or multiple governorates, not exceeding the total prize value.

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Dr. Al Maawali explained that the initiative is structured as a competition among governorates, encouraging them to propose tourism projects and initiatives that capitalize on their unique strengths. This competitive approach aims to elevate tourist destinations across Oman.

It is designed to promote spatial development and ensure comprehensive, balanced growth throughout the governorates, integrating all regions into the broader developmental agenda.

 “One of the key objectives is to enhance economic diversification and local content, providing job opportunities for Omanis that harness economic potential and improve competitiveness within each governorate,” Dr. Al Maawali stated.

Applications for the award will commence this year, with results and project presentations scheduled for 2025. The initiative emphasizes lower-tier projects in the tourism sector, aiming to develop local attractions such as springs, valleys, and ancient pathways to benefit the governorates’ local development.

Dr. Al Maawali emphasized that these projects are expected to boost the number of both local and international visitors, thereby increasing the tourism sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product. This development will not only benefit local communities and SMEs but also enhance the overall competitiveness of the tourism sector in Oman’s governorates.

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