[Oman-l] Re: Oman tourist statistics

[BaaboodA@aol.com]

I think Joachim and Parry's interpretations could perhaps explain this 
difference. Thank you both. I wonder if there is some official Omani sources 
from tourism dept that break down and classify the number of tourists!

I agree with Parry's sentiment that there is a lot of hype about tourism in 
Oman and the concept of 'quality tourism' remains undefined and somewhat 
misleading. I also agree that government policy is also somewhat 
contradictory on this regard, witness Salalah's cheap tourist during the 
'Khariff season', which everyone is bragging about! 

Despite the unparalleled country's natural beauty, it's culture and heritage 
and the charm of its people, very little has been achieved to provide for 
tourists in Oman. I have experienced this myself few times when we wanted to 
tour the country and or get our overseas visitors to see this beautiful 
country. We were faced with the lack of infrastructure and services. I do not 
like to admit this but Dubai, which has not much to offer compared to Oman's 
natural beauty, has a much developed tourism sector. We were forced many 
times to take our overseas visitors to Dubai! 

On the macro-level, I understand that the ministry and department of tourism 
have identified tourism as a critical sector for the country's economic 
development. It sat up a national committee for tourism and a tourism 
promotional committee made up of public and private sector to help in this 
regard. The department has also organised a joint visa with Dubai and is 
undertaking a strategic and marketing review of Oman tourism sector. There 
has been also much talk about appointing tourism overseas representatives. 
Despite these efforts there seem to be a missing link with other government 
departments, which impinge directly or indirectly on tourism, and with the 
private sector which has been given the role to invest in this sector with 
government support. Despite some new recent projects investment in this 
important sector is still low especially as Perry has indicated in the middle 
and lower sectors and particularly in the tourism service sectors. Investment 
is demand led whether demand is actual or projected. Therefore, accurate 
tourism statisicts are important. Abstract numbers are not enough in 
themselves and level of spending is also crucial. Demand, on the other hand, 
will only increase by providing more and varied facilities and by effectively 
promoting the country abroad. Which comes first is debatable, a chicken and 
egg situation or catch 22 if you like. 

At the micro level not many people involved in the tourism sector are happy. 
Many investors and operators are complaining about the lack of tourists and 
the quality of visitors. I spoke to an Omani investor, who invested a lot of 
money in this sector, who told me that he was thinking seriously of moving 
his tourism service business to Dubai because of lack of demand. He was lucky 
in the sense that the nature of his business can be transferred to another 
location. I think that the website suggested by Perry to discuss tourism in 
Oman is, in my opinion, a good idea.

Abdulla





In a message dated 15/09/00 11:51:18 GMT Daylight Time, perryh@omantel.net.om 
writes:

<< Subj:     [Oman-l] Re: Oman tourist statistics
 Date:  15/09/00 11:51:18 GMT Daylight Time
 From:  perryh@omantel.net.om (Perry H)
 Sender:    oman-l-admin@oman.org
 Reply-to:  <A HREF="mailto:oman-l@oman.org">oman-l@oman.org</A>
 To:    oman-l@oman.org
 
 I have no idea what is 'true' in this sense of who is really a 'holiday
 maker'. perhaps the figure includes internal tourists (but I have no idea
 how this figure is calculated), gulfy tourists who dash down to Salalah for
 the rainy season, and all those other folks who fly in from other parts,
 including those Joachim notes. Even so 600K seems somewhat
 'optimistic'.
 Travelling to Oman is not an easy thing to do. The current
 policy in Oman is controversial (here in Oman), a lot of people question
 this
 policy which is known as 'quality tourism'. This is a preference for the
 'blue rinse' set who will fly in, stay a week or so in an expensive hotel,
 take a 2-3 guided tours, also expensive, and fly out. It is obviously
 intended to limit the back packers. Perhaps not such a bad idea, but at the
 moment few of this latter group would be attracted by the lack of middle or
 lower end facilities that exist here.
 As well as that, they would have to
 acquire a lot of information in the short space of time they were here, as
 information is hard
 won, guidebooks etc are usually misleading, and getting about would probably
 require hiring a 4x4. Also very expensive. I have seen a few bicycle
 tourists here, well 3 actually, one who had ridden from Salalah to Nizwa
 (!!!), and another couple of Dutch thrillseekers trying to ride from Muscat
 down to Tiwi. They didn't even have hats! This is NOT a road to ride on a
 bike, unless you are VERY hardy indeed. They didn't make it, they gave up.
 
 Having said all this Oman is a fantastic place to tour around in, its safe,
 you can camp just about anywhere, and it's hell exotic. But as a 'blow in'
 tourist I don't think its possible unless you have  a LOT of money and are
 prepared to rough it a bit - I.e. camp. You also need to do you're homework,
 and have some luck and enough time to make mistakes.
 Having gone through the process myself over a one year period of weekend
 internal touring I'm tempted to set up a website to discuss this. Problem is
 it could get out of date quickly, and I don't know how long I will stay
 here.
 Anyone interested in information is welcome to contact me.
 I still find the 600K number hard to swallow. Travelling about I have
 seen/met few on the road who were not internal tourists. I often check out
 the hotels as a point of interest. Most offer good services, but aren't
 cheap. There are very few facilities outside of the capital area, and Sur,
 Sohar, Nizwa and Salalah. A second rate hotel in  Khasab (Musandam)
 incredibly overpriced.
 
 
 Best Regards
 
 Perry H
 
 
 
 
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