The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) road show series has kicked off with Oman.
The event was held at The Chedi Muscat wherein officials met u with key industry players to discuss how to optimise Oman’s tourism development showcase at this year’s ATM.
The Sultanate showcases more than US$ 3.3 billion worth of high profile tourism projects currently under development. The country is also rapidly expanding its tourism offering with a number of important tourism and cultural projects also nearing completion.
According to MEED, list of projects planned or underway in Oman includes four museums/libraries, 24 hotels and resorts, six malls/shopping centres, one theatre, five sports stadia/leisure complexes, a theme park and four convention centres.
Of the top 10 projects currently under development in the country, which have a total investment value of just over US$3.3 bn, luxury hospitality is a major focus with Westin, St Regis and W all taking shape, as well as the new US$200 million Ritz-Carlton – The Muscat Reserve, and the high-end mixed-use Saraya Bandar Jissah Resort (managed by Jumeirah Group), valued at US$840 m.
Supporting infrastructure development projects include the Oman convention & Exhibition Centre, built at a cost of US$560 m, and the Al Futtaim Group’s US$468 m Mall of Oman.
“BMI forecasts 1.14 m tourist arrivals to Oman this year, up by three percent on 2014 with tourism receipts reaching US$2.24 bn, up by five percent year-on-year,” said Nadege Noblet, exhibition manager.
In its Oman tourism report Q2 2015, BMI also highlights Asia as the largest market for inbound travel with strong potential for future growth with arrivals set to increase by 37.3% between 2014 and 2018. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), Oman’s four and five-star hotels saw a pick-up in guest room nights and revenues in 2014 with the Sultanate recording 26.1% growth in guest numbers in December against previous year and total year-on-year revenue growth of 10.3% rising from OMR 150,486 m to OMR 165,970 m.
Oman is one of four Middle East destinations visited by the ATM team apart from Qatar, Riyadh and Dubai.
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