Oman to add more than 2000 hotel rooms in 2012-13

Oman’s resort and hotel portfolio continues to expand with more than 2000 additional rooms scheduled for opening in 2012/13.

Muscat is set to see the most growth with the addition of 726 rooms, while niche resorts are set to open in Salalah, Khasab and in the high altitude Hajar Mountains.

Duqm, Oman’s new city on the Arabian Sea, sees the opening of three hotels with a total of 391 rooms.

Her Excellency Maitha Al Mahrouqi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Tourism said Oman was “seeing strong investor demand in the sector, especially in niche properties”.

“This is from government sponsored joint ventures through OMRAN and increasing Omani participation,” she continued.

“Overall, our approach is to ensure 5 star developments are located in 5 star natural landscapes. This approach gives us a competitive edge and fuels investment demand.”

OMRAN is the company set up by the Government of Oman to deliver major projects and to manage assets and investments in the tourism sector.

Unlike previous years, the pattern of investment shows significant investment commitment in regional areas including Oman’s new city on the Sea of Arabia (Duqm) where three hotels will come online, but also in Oman’s high altitude Hajar Mountains where both government and private sector investment is on the rise.

For the past two years, both the Oman Ministry of Tourism’s Hajar Mountain summer campaign and Salalah Tourism Festival promotional activities have been pitched at day visitors from Muscat and GCC visitors arriving by land vehicle. Visitor numbers have soared with investors responding with three major resorts to open on Jabal Al Akhdar, adding to the Sunrise Resort on Jabal Asar’h near Jabal Shams that opened in early 2012.