The Gulf destination of Oman has a plethora of offerings for Indian luxury travellers and MICE and rides high on sustainability, eco-tourism and adventure radar.
Swaati Chaudhury
In an effort to position Oman as a foremost, sustainable, short-haul destination for luxury, outbound Indian tourists, to bring a surge in Indian tourist arrivals and boost Indo-Oman tourism ties, the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman in association with major stakeholders of the country hosted Oman Roadshow themed “Focus Oman”, a first of-its-kind business-to-business event in India. The flagship event marked the presence of 25 exhibitors and 25 wedding planners of Oman and was held in Jaipur from August 18 to 21.
The roadshow had the participation of around 150 travel trade partners travelling from major Indian cities. Speaking at Oman Roadshow, Yousuf Khalaf Al Mujaizi, Assistant Director, Business Development Department, Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Oman informed, “We intend to highlight Oman in the Indian travel market, make the Indian travel trade and Visit Oman understand each other and thereby push the travel trade to boost Oman. Being one of the earliest independent Arab nations, we have a huge history and similar cuisines with India making it easier for Indian travellers to explore our country. Sustainability is a key factor and we are looking for an opportunity to provide job avenues to our locals. There are soft and hard adventure activities in Oman and it is a well-known diving destination in the Gulf. The bottom line is travellers can gorge on the cuisine, enjoy the infrastructure and heart-warming hospitality of Omanis.” There is Al Damaniyat Island that offers snorkelling and diving.
The flight journey from India to Oman is nearly 2½ hours duration. Yousuf explained, “India is a significant, rapidly growing source market for us and we have seven years of trade relations with India. The pandemic was tough for us and our tourism-related activity with India began soon after the pandemic. As of now, we are more into adventure tourism activities. Focus Oman will enable us to develop robust and lasting business relations with the Indian travel trade, flaunt our diverse offerings and make our country the destination of choice for Indian leisure travellers, MICE and weddings. We have the opportunity to have more market share in the Indian travel industry in terms of geographical market.”
Oman is blessed with mountains, waterfalls, forts, beaches, verdant forests, oasis, caves et al. The Gulf destination prides in having 3,165 km long coastline. Yousuf said, “We not only highlight Muscat but we do promote all tourist destinations in Oman. One should not miss out the country’s unique coastline. For Indian travellers, it’s amazing to spend four days visiting the kaleidoscope of sites. Tourists get an opportunity to visit Nizwa Fort and there are traditional Omani hamlets that have mud houses in the vicinity of the fort. “
Oman is incidentally the only destination in the Gulf that provides live glimpses of turtle hatching. According to Puneet Singh, General Manager, Alila, Jabal Akhdar, “Nearly 250 km from Muscat is Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve that forms the turtle hatching destination and is a three-hour drive from Muscat. The turtle hatching season is during summer months from May to September. One can get to view turtle nesting in the wee hours of morning and night.”
There is visa free-on-arrival for Indian passport holders travelling to Oman for a period of 14 days. The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Oman is into offering incentives to wedding planners for hosting destination weddings. Yousuf further said, “The kind of incentives offered to MICE travellers depends upon the particular group. We have a huge and luxury infrastructure to host Indian MICE events. Most of our hospitality players fall in the luxury categories of four-star and five-star. We receive wedding planners, MICE and leisure travellers in Oman. Our country has emerged as the topmost wedding destination. The most significant aspect of tourism is to build relations.” It takes only a couple of hours to drive from Muscat to the mountains.
Focus Oman was replete with a series of events including destination presentations and B2B networking sessions connecting Oman’s exhibitors with the leading travel decision makers of India. Yousuf added, “When it comes to tourist arrivals in Oman, India occupies the top slot in Asia. We have a fair share of travellers from the United Kingdom and Germany. We are looking ahead to achieve 10 per cent GDP growth in tourism. We receive travellers from all across the globe. We have recorded 40 per cent growth in tourism in 2024. Our target is to achieve 1 million Indian tourists in future.”
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