Oman set to see 21% annual rise in hotel rooms

The number of hotel rooms being built in Oman over the next five years is likely to grow by up to 21 percent annually, real estate experts Cluttons has said.

Cluttons said in a report that between 5,000-6,000 hotel rooms in the 3-5 star hospitality sector are expected to be built in the Muscat capital area to 2015.

This compares to a total of 3,777 rooms in the 3 to 5 star sector in Muscat in 2010 and equates to a potential average annual growth rate of about 18-21 percent, the report said.

It added that the number of tourists visiting the sultanate had grown at an average annual rate of around seven percent over the last five years but would need to increase significantly to maintain current occupancy levels in light of the new supply in the pipeline.

Recent and encouraging news from The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has indicated that it expects Oman's tourism industry to grow from 1.5 percent of total GDP in 2010 to 2.4 percent of GDP by 2020.

"This is a welcome forecast, as under current occupancy levels, the rate of growth of inbound tourism will need to accelerate significantly, to maintain average occupancy levels as the projected pipeline of hotels comes into the market," the Cluttons report said.

According to the report, the economic indicators show that the sultanate is continuing its recovery from the impacts of the global financial crisis, buoyed by increasing oil prices.

"The long term repercussions of the recent unrest in Oman and the wider region are difficult to predict but there has been a noticeable impact on the hotel sector with occupancy rates for March and April significantly reduced in comparison to the same months in 2010," Cluttons said.

Earlier this month, Oman said it had set up a new committee to develop an action plan to target growth in the country's tourism industry.

Oman's Ministry of Tourism has formed the panel which includes representatives from airlines, hotels, tour operators and tourism investment firms.

The committee will work with the Ministry to create coordinated communications with key international markets to promote tourism in the sultanate.