Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Muscat: Cassie de Pecol, an American woman who has broken the record for the shortest amount of time taken to travel to all 196 sovereign nations, has listed Oman as one of the locations around the world that travellers must visit.
Oman was a must-visit for those who wish “to immerse yourself in the desert and mountains, while learning from locals who live in the mountains.It's a whole different lifestyle,” said the 27-year-old.
De Pecol completed the record just 18 months and 26 days, smashing the previous time recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records in the process, also becoming the first woman to visit all of the world’s countries.
The previous record was held by American Yili Liu, who completed his journey across the globe from September 2007 to December 2010.
Titled ‘Expedition 196’, de Pecol’s set out with the mission of promoting ‘peace through tourism’, and believed that the understanding of different cultures fosters better understanding of people.
“The truth of the matter is, if we would all take a step back and look at the whole picture, we could see the beauty in the people and the environments in some of the countries where we’d least expect it,” recalled Cassie.
“If we just travelled to one war-torn or third world country in our lives, we’d be able to learn, listen and want to help bridge the gap that shouldn’t even be there in the first place,” she said. “We’d see the anguish and we’d feel the need to help our brothers and sisters of the world.
“Responsible tourism strengthens the economies in countries whether they need it or not,” added Cassie. “This funding makes the people happy because it employs them, it fulfills their needs and it makes them want to create more beauty for tourists so that they can expand their economy. The more financially stable the country, the more bounty for the people, the better health care and the more awareness that will be raised.
“Every citizen of the world loves one place, one person, one thing about their country that they want to share with someone new who has no idea,” continued Cassie.
Cassie had several sponsors providing her with travel and equipment along her journey, and one of them was Oman’s Six Senses Zighy Bay Resort, which joined forces with Cassie to promote their ethos of sustainable eco-tourism.
“We are extremely happy to see Cassie achieve her world record, because her objective of promoting sustainable eco-tourism through peace and understanding is very close to our values as well,” said Nurhayati Mohamad, Marketing Communications Manager for Six Senses Zighy Bay.
“She stayed with us from the 27th of February to the2nd of March, 2016, to feature the resort's sustainability offerings to guests and the world,” she added. “In our design and daily operations at the resort, we act responsibly to measure and minimise our carbon footprint and impact on the environment, all through active management of energy, water, waste, biodiversity, purchasing and chemical usage,” added Mohamad.
