Oman’s growing reputation as one of the most diverse, beautiful year round tourism destinations in the Middle East will be at the heart of the Ministry of Tourism, Oman's presence at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai this month.
The distinctive pavilion for Oman has been designed to resemble a traditional historic fort from Sultanates rich history and heritage and will be a focal point for Ministry officials and partners to promote the huge variety of visitor experiences the country has to offer.
Nearly 30 hotel operators and travel agents will be participating with Oman Tourism to promote attractions from across the country and tourism representatives will include the country’s director general of Tourism Promotion Salim Al Mamari and the director of the Oman Convention Bureau, Khalid Al Zadjali.
One of the key areas that Oman will be promoting is the major growth in opportunities for the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (Mice) sector that will open up shortly with the opening of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre in Muscat later this year.
This purpose built centre will include five hotels as well as a number of purpose built exhibition halls and state of the art conference facilities that will enable Oman to host the largest regional and international events in the future.
Commenting on their participation at ATM, Al Mamari said: “The Arabian Travel Market is the most important regional platform for us every year to promote the new and exciting developments in the tourism industry in Oman. In recent years we have seen significant growth in visitor numbers with a 17.7 per cent increase in tourists in 2015 with over 2.4 million people visiting the Sultanate from around the world.
“We are confident that this growth is set to continue as new hotels are opening, new attractions are being completed and Oman’s reputation as a year-round destination for tourists with an unmatched variety of experiences continues to grow.
“We will be using the Arabian Travel Market to announce a number of exciting new hotels that will either open this year or are set to enter the Oman market in the near future – adding to the world class quality that we already offer to our visitors across the country from the mountains of Al Jabal Al Akhdar to the beautiful coastline from Muscat to Salalah.”
Oman’s continuing popularity and growth as a visitor destination for long relaxing holidays and shorter breaks has been reinforced by the Sultanate’s deserved reputation as a safe, secure and relaxing country to visit for families and the more adventurous individual traveler.
Within the GCC, the Ministry recently launched a very successful “Discover Oman’s Beauty” campaign that offers a wide range of exciting five-night packages for visitors from across the region with a focus on travelers from neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
These packages are designed to enable visitors to benefit from the summer period in Oman that can be a perfect time to visit a multi-faceted country that offers cooling mountain escapes, fun filled water sports experiences for families and an incredible array of cultural and heritage experiences.
“As a country Oman has so much to offer from our world class hotels and resorts; historic forts including four-Unesco world heritage sites; stunning mountain scenery that is easily accessible by road to over 2,000 metres; 3,165 km of unspoiled coastline; fabulous watersports including scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing and kite surfing and dolphin and turtle watching being just a sample of what is waiting for visitors,” added Al Mamari.
“The Arabian Travel Market is the perfect opportunity for visitors to find out more about what Oman has to offer families, romantic honeymooners and adventure seekers among others,” he added.
The Ministry of Oman, Tourism, can be found at the Arabian Travel Market, which will run from April 25 to 28, in Hall ME2110 throughout the exhibition. - TradeArabia News Service