GM INTERVIEW: York Brandes

Brandes says that raising awareness must be a collective effort by hotels, airlines and government.

Awareness
Key to the hotel’s continuing success will be awareness of the destination, which is increasing all the time, Brandes says, due to people getting “fed up” of Dubai. He continues: “If people do their homework and want to find some Arabian culture, they have to come to Oman. And I think Dubai is doing an excellent job in getting its name out and promoting itself, but can it even still be classed as Arabia?”

He explains that a huge amount of the weekend market is made up of people from the GCC, and UAE in particular. “They are coming for a weekend to get out of the hustle and bustle. They come to us to relax.” During the week, the main market is Europeans, but while the largest markets — UK and Germany — have dropped, it has seen an influx from France and Italy.

Brandes explains that continuing the increase in awareness is something the hotel can’t do alone. “Awareness is part of all of us — the minister of tourism, the airlines and the hotels,” he says. “When you want to bring something on the map, it costs a lot of money and this can only be done by government.”

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There are many new hotels planned for Muscat in the coming years, but Brandes says he is not worried yet, as he can’t see any challengers opening in the next three years. “There are a lot of plans, but the majority that have announced they will come here, it was in 2008, 09 and 10. They were announced, but never took place. Some are reborn, but then again, it won’t be before the beginning of 2015.”

The only challenge which Brandes sees over the next couple of years would be more unrest: “I hope that the region will be quiet, as it will break all of our necks if something happens down the road. Otherwise, it is definitely picking up — the last three months have shown that. Confidence is back. People aren’t scared anymore.”