As the developer of two of the largest hospitality projects Oman has ever seen, totalling 13 hotels and 2900 rooms, Muriya Tourism Development can’t be accused of lacking ambition. Marketing director Bahaa Hefzallah explains its future plans for Omani tourism
Ever since its establishment in 2006 as a joint venture between Egypt’s Orascom Development and Omran, the investment arm of the Omani government, Muriya Tourism Development has been thinking big.
Now, with a total of four hospitality and residential development projects in the pipeline, hotels are starting to come online at the two largest, the 6.2 million m2 Jebel Sifah and gigantic 15.6 million m2 Salalah Beach, which together will consist of an eye-watering 2900 rooms spread over 13 hotels.
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Plus the region is attracting big-name international companies; of the six hotels due to be built in Jebel Sifah alone, the operator line-up includes Four Seasons, Missoni, Banyan Tree and Angsana.
Grand Designs
Situated only 45 minutes from Downtown Muscat, Muriya’s Jebel Sifah development occupies an area of 6.2 million m² and will contain six hotels with a total of 1000 rooms, an 18-hole golf course and Oman’s first inland marina. A very impressive resume and one that according to Muriya marketing director Bahaa Hefzallah isn’t filled with the usual developer hot air.
“Of the six hotels due to be built agreements are already in place with international names such as Four Seasons, Missoni, Banyan Tree and Angsana with construction to start at the Missoni and Angsana hotels this year and the Four Seasons and Banyan Tree to start the next. So before the first hotel is due to open we will have started construction at all of the agreed sites. In addition the marina is now completely finished and already home to yachts of the residents of the 14 freehold apartment buildings that surround it. We also have the 55-room Sifawy Boutique Hotel that has been open since September 2011,” reports Hefzallah.
If you thought that Jebel Sifah sounds impressive, then Muriya’s other upcoming Oman development, Salalah Beach, is something else. Spread over 15.6 million m², the site will be home to seven hotels with 1900 hotel rooms, two golf courses and a 200-boat marina.
“At Salalah Beach we again have one boutique hotel, the 65-room Juweira Boutique Hotel, with the Salalah Rotana Resort & Spa due to open by the end of 2013 and agreements in place for a Club Med resort and a Mövenpick hotel for which construction is to begin soon,” boasts Hefzallah.
He goes on to explain that both the Jebel Sifah and Salalah Beach developments are Integrated Tourism Complexes, ICT, that entitle non GCC nationals to own properties and thereby apply for residency, which is foreseen as a major draw to property investors, as well as each development’s favourable evocations and climate.
“The summer months of July and August are when Salalah has its khareef (monsoon) which means the area enjoys 25 degree temperatures and green landscapes. We are talking coconut and banana trees that are only an hour and a half flight away from Dubai. This will be an ideal destination for people who live in the GCC to visit during summer, instead of boiling at home in 50 degrees,” Hefzallah says.
Hefzallah also predicts that international interest in the region is due to take off, explaining that charter flights from Scandinavia are starting to join existing ones from Germany and other countries in Europe.
Another sign of growth that Hefzallah highlights is the current redevelopment of the international airport, due to open in 2015, that will increase capacity from approximately 200,000 in 2010 to an estimated 2 million passengers a year.
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