Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: Muscat’s much loved Intercontinental Hotel is to have a major revamp, it has been revealed.
“InterContinental Muscat management is excited to announce the beginning of our Phase One renovation that includes the driveway and lobby vestibule which began on Sunday, 5th February 2017,” said Maria Palmaria, Public Relations Executive at the hotel. “The project will be completed by the end of March 2017.”
“After Phase One, we will be renovating the rooms and the restaurants but this is a continuous project,” she added.
With the Intercontinental Hotel Muscat celebrating 40 years since its establishment in the Sultanate, Thierry Perrot, the General Manager of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, says this is the right time for the hotel to undergo a makeover.
“With the government of Oman and Ministry of Tourism actively promoting the Sultanate, we realised it was time for us to modernise the hotel and upgrade it to keep in tune with our competitors,” he said.
“We were one of Oman’s first hotels and we used to host a lot of private and government functions, so there are a lot of memories associated with Intercontinental Muscat.
“Even today, when we meet guests who are coming to our hotel after a long time, they remember the memories they had here, because they are often very fond memories for them,” added the Frenchman.
“They often tell us ‘oh, I still remember the time I had my wedding here,’ and we want to continue to give them these memories.”
Perrot thinks that while the government is actively trying to promote Oman as a tourist destination, the government’s Tanfeedh directives towards economic diversification and job creation will make the Sultanate a more attractive place for even more people to visit in the future.
“Right now, Oman is still growing as a tourist destination, and with the Tanfeedh regulations opening up the country further and allowing easier access to foreign visitors, and although it is quite expensive at the moment, we believe this too will ease off in the future as the economy picks up again,” explained Perrot.
“Oman is a unique destination because if you look at the other nations in the GCC or in the rest of the Middle East, there are other activities that you can do in Oman that you cannot do anywhere else,” he said.
“You can definitely go shopping here, but there is so much natural beauty and outdoor sports that people can enjoy here. You can go sailing, paragliding, enjoy desert safaris, dune bashing and explore nature. Many people do not know about Oman, but once they see it, they come here over and over again.”
