• Home
• News Article

Ambitious Oman targets 12 million visitors by 2020

Cruises and culture boost Sultanate's tourist arrivals to record numbers consistent with 131% jump in online pre-registered visitors from Oman for Arabian Travel Market
The Sultanate of Oman's focus on tourism and cultural heritage is significantly boosting its status as a regional and global leisure hub, to which end Oman will be showcasing its latest tourism offering at this year's Arabian Travel Market (ATM) industry showcase.

Besides Oman's legendary hospitality, its pristine beaches and unspoiled Wadis, the high profile Royal Opera House Muscat debuted in October last year, and the country is now pushing ahead with projects including a US$1 billion tourist resort in Salalah and a US$1 billion Oman Conference and Exhibition Centre in Muscat, which is due to open late 2013.

"Oman received some 1.6 million tourists in 2010 and Oman's Ministry of Tourism aims to increase this figure to an ambitious 12 million per annum by 2020. Such aspirations clearly show the country's goal to develop as a major tourist and business destination," said Mark Walsh, Group Exhibition Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions.

Consistent with Oman's bullish forecast for tourism and its bold infrastructure strategy, online visitor registrations for ATM from Oman have risen 131% while the number of visitors interested in buying products and services from the Sultanate is up 109%.

Overall online registrations for the four-day show, which opens on 30 April 2012, are already up 132% from the same time last year, at nearly 2,000 visitors with key exhibitors from the Sultanate including the country's Ministry of Tourism and Oman Air.

Muscat's cruise ship passenger arrivals sailed past 230,000 in 2010/2011 from just 44,000 in 2007. The Ministry of Tourism expects this number to exceed 300,000 by 2015. Meanwhile, 2010 saw a record 2.08 million passengers arriving at Muscat International Airport, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Meanwhile elsewhere, European pre-registrations for the event have risen 94%. The number of tourists visiting the Middle East is expected to grow by up to 5% this year following an 8% decline last year, according to a recent report by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). There were an estimated five million fewer international tourist arrivals last year, down to 55 million, due to the turmoil in some of the region's countries, UNWTO said.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and approaching its nineteenth year, the show has grown to become the largest showcase of its kind in the region and one of the biggest in the world. Last year 2,232 exhibitors covering floor space of just under 20,000 square metres attracted more than 22,000 attendees.

The line-up for this year's Arabian Travel Market will bring together annual favourites and a number of brand new events including the inaugural UNWTO regional tourism ministers' conference and the WTM Vision forum, which will focus on Middle East travel trends and the online travel market

Covering the entire week, the popular Seminar Theatre series of sessions will address industry hot topics from developments in the aviation sector and hotel branding to Sharia-compliant travel.

The all-new Tech Theatre is a dedicated platform that provides an opportunity to gain invaluable insight into leading edge industry-related technologies including social media and GDS.

For the second year running, Arabian Travel Market will once again host its own unique industry version of The Apprentice to uncover the best emerging regional talent.

Other regular features include the New Frontiers Award, which recognises outstanding contributions to tourism development in the face of overwhelming adversity, and the perennially popular industry Careers Day will wrap up the week.

-Ends-

For more information on Arabian Travel Market 2012, please log on to www.arabiantravelmarket.com

About Arabian Travel Market
Arabian Travel Market 2011 boasted more than 2,200 exhibitors and stand-sharers, from 69 countries.

Arabian Travel Market is part of the Reed Travel Exhibitions' portfolio, which includes 15 of the world's leading travel industry events. For more information visit

www.arabiantravelmarket.com

Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world's leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, business travel and the meetings and incentives industry.

The 13 events are; World Travel Market (WTM), Arabian Travel Market (ATM), International French Travel Market (IFTM), La Cumbre, International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), International Luxury Travel Market Asia (ILTMA), Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) (owned by Melbourne Convention Visitors Bureau), Global Exhibition for Incentive, Business Travel, and Meetings (EIBTM), Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (GIBTM), Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (AIBTM), China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (CIBTM) and Business Travel Market.

April 2013 will see RTE will launch World Travel Market Latin America in São Paulo.

RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions. In 2011, six million participants attended RE's 500 events in 39 countries covering 44 industry sectors from aerospace and aviation to beauty and cosmetics to sports and recreation.

Reed Exhibitions is owned by Reed Elsevier, the world's leading provider of professional information and online workflow solutions.

www.reedtravelexhibitions.com

Reed Exhibitions
The world's leading organiser of trade and consumer events running over 470 events in 37 countries. Reed Exhibitions excels in creating high profile, highly targeted business and consumer exhibitions and events to establish and maintain business relations, and generate new business.

Reed Exhibitions network of offices and promoters extends to 65 countries. www.reedexpo.com

Reed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier is a world leading provider of professional information and online workflow solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal, Risk Information and Analytics, and Business sectors.

Based in over 200 locations worldwide, they create authoritative content delivered through market leading brands, enabling their customers to find the essential data, analysis and commentary to support their decisions.

www.reed-elsevier.com

For more information, please contact:
Nathalie Viselé
Director
Shamal Marketing Communications
PO Box 502701
Office 106, Al Sufouh Tower
Dubai Media City
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Office: +971 4 3652711 I Direct : +971 4 3652712 I Mobile : +971 50 4576525
Fax:+971 4 4278703
E-mail: nathalie@smc-pr.com I Web site: www.smc-pr.com

© Press Release 2012