Oman Prepares For Massive Growth In Tourism
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eTurboNews As Dubai rolls out massive tourism projects aimed at propelling its economy, neighboring Oman is taking a big plunge into tourism. All these years, mass tourism was not encouraged. This is slowly changing, as Oman slowly opens up, with three mega tourism projects underway.
The destination's tourism potential is enormous and continues to grow. "The number of tourists during 2003 and 2004 exceeded one million and it is expected that the figures for 2005 and 2006 will be much higher," Tourism Minister Rajha bint Abdulameer bin Ali said.
"A detailed marketing and advertising strategy has been set in place, which is a prerequisite if any success has to be achieved," she added. "Easing the entry visa regime is constantly discussed and a number of new regulations have been introduced in recent times."
According to the minister, Oman is exerting its utmost effort to establish a comprehensive database, work on which is under way, since the beginning of 2005.
In this regard, the Ministry is coordinating with the World Tourism Organization and the Ministry of National Economy to build and operate the system of Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). "When completed, this system will generate a large volume of statistical information, which will enable us to obtain the required indicators pertinent to tourism."
For example, the minister said value added (hotels and restaurants alone) "has risen by 28 percent during the past four years, increasing to 69.3 million rials in 2004 from 54 million rials in 2000."
The tourism sector employs more than 10,000 people. The number of hotels and other accommodation facilities increased from just 100 in 2000 to 147 in 2004.
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