Oman on Wednesday announced the launch of a new partnership with a United Arab Emirates-based travel website to promote the Sultanate’s tourism portfolio, according to a press release issued by Oman’s Ministry of Tourism.

“In line with the Sultanate of Oman’s efforts to become a leading global destination for business and leisure by (year) 2040… the Ministry of Oman recently launched a major marketing campaign in partnership with (UAE-based) Holiday Factory,” the ministry press release said.

Oman, like other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), was badly hit by an economic slowdown following the sharp fall in oil prices that started in 2014.

The drop in oil prices have led most GCC nations to shift attention to other economic sectors such as tourism, in a bid to diversify their economies and generate new sources of income.

Saudi Arabia, the GCC’s most populous nation and the Middle East’s biggest economy, has made several steps to relax some of its religiously conservative rules with regards to tourism, entertainment and women’s rights. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) announced in April that regulations for the issuance of tourist visas have been completed and submitted to the higher authorities for approval. Currently, only resident employees and their families, business travelers, and Muslim pilgrims are allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia.

Oman - through the new partnership - will promote special discounted packages to encourage travelers to visit the Sultanate, according to the tourism ministry press release.

The new partnership, according to Muhammad Chbib, CEO and co-founder of the online travel portal Tajawal, shows that the Sultanate, like many of its GCC neighbours, is serious about its tourism plans. “I think the main reason for partnerships like that is to benefit from the traffic that has moved from offline to online,” Chbib said. “Visitors do a lot of research online these days,” he added.

Last February, Oman increased its investments in air transportation, acquiring new aircrafts and expanding into new routes.

“Twenty years ago Dubai started doing that (travel marketing campaigns), then Abu Dhabi and Qatar followed, now the smaller destinations are figuring out that there is a correlation between the amount of money you spend on marketing and positioning a destination and the visitors’ flow that you get to the destination and I think they basically are starting now to dedicate certain amount of money for destination marketing,” Chbib said.

When asked about what advice that he - as a travel expert - would give the Omani government, Chbib said: “Don’t fall into the trap of becoming ‘a me too’ destination. When you promote your destination, try to really underline the uniqueness of your specific destination.”

Oman’s Ministry of Tourism was not immediately available for comment.

Further Reading:
Oman: Year in review 2017
Oman to attract $50bln in tourism investment by 2040
Oman tourism revenues exceed $31bln
Oman to focus on high-end tourism
More than 3mln tourists visited Oman in 2017

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Shane McGinley)
(yasmine.saleh@thomsonreuters.com)

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