Provision of tourism infrastructure and building of human resources are two key action areas
Vision 2007
Tourism is a fairly new industry in Oman and expanding the sector requires establishing ground rules, correct processes and best practices which will take place over the coming years. I would like to see Oman more actively marketed in the international community as a preferred destination for the astute traveler. In the light of increased development in the tourism sector, and the Ministry of Tourism's efforts to place Oman on the International tourist map, we foresee many new opportunities in the New Year and ahead for investors to take advantage of major infrastructural projects that are vital to the future of the tourism sector in Oman.
Oman's tourism vision has always been geared towards quality rather than quantity. The Sultanate offers a world class diverse and varied tourism product that is targeted at high-net worth tourists. The drive behind this strategy comes from ensuring that while tourism reaps its economical benefits, its negative aspects are controlled with minimal impact to the environment and culture through a small footprint.
Mega projects and their cascading effects
We have a number of projects with Joint Venture Partners such as Sama Dubai, Orascom through their Omani company Muriya, Saraya from Jordan and Qatari Diar amongst others. Our partners are chosen for their strategic expertise as well as their investment capacity and this allows us to derive the much sought after positive benefits of organic growth, by proxy. This has enabled us as a start-up company to achieve project value of over RO 1.5 billion within just nine months.
Each of our Joint Venture Partners in Oman has similar values, beliefs, vision, mission and culture including Omanisation policies and procedures. This, coupled with the strong support we receive from Government, has created numerous job opportunities for Omanis directly in our sector and will shortly have a significant positive impact on the downstream employment in sectors of construction, tourism related operations and the hospitality industry at large.
In terms of the National Economy we feel these projects will fulfil our primary mandate from Government to diversify GDP into the tourism industry. As a major generator of foreign direct investment (FDI), the projects will also have a positive spin off for many of the service industries down stream of us such as realtors, banks, insurance companies and others.
Targeting MICE segment
Many of the projects are currently under design development and it would not be prudent to talk about them at present but projects, which we are busy with, include Al Inshirah and Oman Convention Center.
Project Components include:
Convention / Conference facilities - capacity up to 7,000 seats
Hotel accommodation
5 star - 250 rooms
4 star - 300 rooms
3 star - 300 rooms
Serviced hotel apartments - 150 rooms
Office park
These projects will significantly increase the influx of visitors to Oman, not only in quantity but diversity of profile and origin.
The primary function of the convention centre is to establish Muscat as a specialist destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) in the MENA region. The MICE industry is currently one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism market. Providing a skilled labour force for each of these projects is a human resource challenge that is already being tackled in Oman, by the National Hospitality Institute and Oman Tourism College.
Both eco-friendly and sustainable
Yes, all the projects we are undertaking are environmentally friendly. We have a project execution handbook, which ensures that we work within the current government legislation and international best practice. All our projects will have independent environmental consultants from conception of the feasibility studies. Their main role will be to develop environmental project plans that take into consideration the physical, historic and social impact of each project as well as the on-going management of the completed product.
Of course, we see ourselves developing the infrastructure for tourism in Oman and vital to that is working hand in hand with the Ministry of Tourism to ensure that the type of tourism being cultivated is sustainable and measurable. Our key role will be to integrate sustainability within the physical and architectural framework of our projects. Luckily, there are many case studies around the world to learn from, with the help of our consultants we can clearly identify the pitfalls and overcome them with innovative best practice that respects the environment, culture and heritage of each project site.
Teething troubles
The primary hurdles to development are human resource skills. The MENA region as well as other global markets are experiencing unprecedented growth in this sector which has driven the demand for skilled resource to record levels. Oman as an emerging player has first to establish its credibility as a player in order to attract the correct skills. Given the relatively low base we are coming off, establishing ourselves as a competitive employer in terms of opportunity, risk and reward is a significant challenge.
Current infrastructure and support services to the industry such as property legislation and related processes need time to mature to be able to handle the industry specific requirements that tourism development brings. Forward planning of major infrastructural entities such as the airport and roads has been outstanding and delivery looks set to match our delivery timelines so the outlook is positive.
Main Page
Of Gas Works and LNG
Full steam ahead
Putting Oman on the International tourist map
The FTA Effect
'Common Market Free Trade Agreements & Bilateralism will help this region'
People Speak
By Tim Redman
Oman Economic Review 2007
