How Oman Looks to Grow Tourism: No Mega-Hotels Here
Skift Take
As the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue their mega-projects, we look at Oman's 'calmer' approach to tourism.
Tourism in the Middle Eastern country of Oman is improving. The Gulf nation was hit hard by Covid and had long struggled to recoup its tourism sector. But government measures are helping.
Unlike the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Oman has largely stayed away from giga-projects and mega-hotels to spark tourism. Instead, the country focuses heavily on its heritage sector to boost travel, as well as its natural environment.
The country aims to increase the tourism sector’s contribution to 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2040. Oman also plans to attract 11.7 million tourists by 2040. To achieve these goals, the country is looking to attract more than $51 billion in investment.
Here are the latest tourism figures:
767,900 visitors year-to-date by April 2024 compared to 668,168 up to the same point last year. Revenues from three- to five-star hotels rose 10.