Investment in Oman’s tourism sector to reach OMR3 billion by 2025

The Ministry of History and Tourism in Muscat said that between 2021 and 2025, a total of OMR 3 billion will be spent on Oman’s history and tourism.

Also, the number of hotel rooms in Oman is expected to reach 33,000 by the end of 2025, according to the ministry. The ministry also said that it wants the sector to contribute 2.75 to 3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025. According to statistics released by the NCSI, the tourism industry’s share of GDP at constant prices in 2021 will hit 2.4%.

The Director of the Oman Vision 2040 Office at the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) said this. He said that the Sultanate of Oman’s heritage and tourism sectors have done well in their annual plans, which are in line with the goals of Oman Vision 2040.

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Dr. Rashid bin Saleh Al Hinai, Director of the Oman Vision 2040 Office at the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, said on Sunday that Oman Vision 2040 has a number of goals for the tourism industry, such as attracting investment, ensuring financial stability, and making the tourism industry a bigger part of the job market. Together with the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit, work was done to come up with MHT’s goals that fit with the vision plan.

In coordination with the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit, work is being done to create other indicators, such as the labour market indicators in the tourism sector, the identity and citizenship index, and the social welfare index. When creating these indicators, the goals of the Omani tourism strategy, the comprehensive tourism development plan, and the different plans and programmes of the MHT were taken into account.

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Dr. Rashid Al Hinai also said that the investment index is part of Oman Vision 2040’s focus on the private sector, investment, and international cooperation. The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and the National Programme for Investment and Export Development (Nazdaher) worked together to make the MHT’s investment plan, which was finished in the first quarter of this year.

There are more than 440 different kinds of investment projects in the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism’s investment plan. The total amount of investments in projects that have already been done and those that are planned for 2021–2025 is about OMR 2.7 billion, of which about OMR 2.3 billion are confirmed investments.

In line with this investment programme, the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism follows up on projects based on how important they are and how much they cost. They pay more attention to projects that cost OMR 5 million or more and to projects that help local tourism grow.

Integrated tourism complexes are one of the most important investments that this programme is keeping an eye on. The planned investments for the years 2021–2025 are worth about OMR1.5 billion, and one of the most important agreements for an integrated tourism complex that was signed this year is to build the Mandarin Oriental Project in the Governorate of Muscat.

In order to help reach the investment goals for 2025, MHT also gives approvals for private projects based on supply and demand studies. Ten new approvals were given in the first quarter of this year, 2023.

As for the new projects on land owned by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, the goal is to sign 25 usufruct contracts through a direct contracting method by 2023 and give private companies a number of investment opportunities to compete for them.

One of the most important things the Ministry needs right now is for investors to have enough money, plans for creating jobs, local content in the projects, and entertainment and tourism components in the projects, depending on the nature of each project and how it fits into the strategic direction of MHT and how quickly it can be put into action.

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Dr. Rashid Al Hinai explained that the MHT pays a lot of attention to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), and that work is currently being done to set aside a number of funding opportunities for SMEs. These opportunities will be presented in packages over the next few months.

He said that the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism has also adopted a local content policy, and all contracts worth less than OMR 10,000 are given to SMEs.

Dr. Al Hinai also made it clear that the government got a total of OMR 3.8 million from the tourism sector at the end of 2021 but OMR 12.4 million at the end of 2022. This is a growth rate of 227 percent between 2021 and 2022, and the goal is to get an annual growth rate of at least 5%.

He said that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are to blame for the drop in revenue in 2021. However, investors in the tourism sector were able to get tax breaks, the situation in the sector is getting better, more investments are coming into the sector, and the ministry has gotten better at collecting taxes, which has led to a high growth rate in the total government revenues from the tourism sector.

Dr. Rashid bin Saleh Al Hinai said that the Sultanate of Oman is working on a file to add the archaeological sites of Bisya and Salut to the World Heritage List. This is related to the index for preserving history and culture.

The goal is also for the private sector and public companies to be able to invest in 25 historical monuments by 2025. It should be noted that the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism has been able to sign 12 investment contracts so far, with the Bahla Fort investment contract being the most recent.

Work is also being done on a number of projects, such as setting up a field work programme to track the meteorites that fall on the Sultanate of Oman, getting ready to publish a scientific book on meteorites, helping private museums and heritage houses, setting up the innovation project in the Omani Sarooj and making it in commercial quantities for the maintenance and repair of heritage buildings, and continuing the archaeology work.

The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism is also running advertising campaigns and forming partnerships in the targeted markets to increase the number of annual events for domestic tourism, attract international events and wedding parties, charter trips, and cruise ships, attract the organisation of conferences and events in Oman, increase the number of meetings held in Oman, and offer more incentives. Goals have been set, and work has already begun.

The director of the Oman Vision 2040 Office at the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism explained that the comprehensive tourism development plan looks at the main reference plan of the ministry as a medium-term executive plan through which the implementation of projects and programmes related to the ministry is followed, in accordance with

He said that in the tourism sector, there are specialised executive programmes like the investment plan, the adventure tourism programme, the tourist promotion programme, and the labour market and employment programme. Each of these programmes has a set of projects and efforts that need to be done by certain dates and based on the money and skills that are available.

He also explained that the Ministry does a full evaluation every three months of the plans and programmes related to these goals and the values that have been reached. This information is then shared with the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit and the relevant authorities. The ministry also does a midterm evaluation of the operational plan that has been approved.

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Dr. Rashid Al-Hinai also said that the draught tourism law is one of Oman Vision 2040’s top goals for the government and the courts, while the amended draught law is in the final steps of the legislative process. This law is meant to keep up with changes in the global tourism industry, make it easier to do things, and give the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism more power to regulate the field.

Dr. Rashid Al-Hinai ended his speech by saying, “The preliminary data for the year 2022 shows that the general situation of tourism is getting better, as the number of international visitors rose from 652,000 in 2021 to 2.9 million in 2022.”

It’s important to know that the Oman Vision 2040 Office in the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism is in charge of making sure that planning and execution in the ministry work together to reach the goals of Oman Vision 2040. It is also the link between the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and the Follow-up Unit for the implementation of Oman Vision 2040. The Follow-up Unit is in charge of making sure that the goals of the vision are met in the tourism industry.

Source : timesofoman.com