Rotana Salalah Resort to open in Oman next month

The developer of the five-star, 399 room Salalah Rotana Resort in Oman has revealed that the hotel is due to open sometime next month, three months later than planned

The Salalah Rotana Resort was supposed to partially open on Christmas Day but fell behind due to supplier delays, said Hamza Selim, CEO of developer Muriya, a joint venture of Orascom and Omran, the Oman government’s tourism development arm.

Selim said a full opening will now take place next month and that the original deadline was meant to ensure proper lead up to Khareef season, which runs from June to September.

“Yes unfortunately due to some supplier problems in terms of delivering certain packages on time we had to delay and also fine-tune the operation.

“By March we are still ready ... we will be late for a couple of months, it’s not a big deal. December 25 was for a soft and partial opening. Yes we are doing a soft opening but it’s not a partial opening, it’s a full opening.”

Salalah Beach is located in the sole tropical destination on the Arabian Peninsula adjacent to the Southern Omani town of Salalah.

When complete, the 15.6km2 development will feature an array of retail and restaurant facilities, alongside two Peter Harradine-designed PGA golf courses, a 200 berth inland marina with dockside restaurants and cafes, two boutique hotels and a selection of resorts, including Club Med, Movenpick, and Rotana.

Selim said the next hotel to be built at Salalah Beach would be a Club Med although he was unable to give a definite start date.

“It’s at special approvals stages to start construction. We’ll be building it ourselves like the Rotana. We’ve not decided yet when we start construction but we have the full set of drawings.”