Sunday 01 / December / 2024
I was privileged to visit Salalah last week and I thoroughly enjoyed myself walking around in the area of Hawana where the government allotted facilities specially for visitors and tourists.
Two words came up in my mind. “Heaven on earth’ as I enjoyed the mild weather, the beach and the beautiful surroundings around me. Salalah has a natural setting not just the mild weather, but the compelling beauty to relax any visitor.
Many connect this southern city with Khareef but actually Salalah has its unique privileges throughout the year in all four seasons. Currently, it is summer in Salalah but the weather does not exceed 30 degrees. In the winter, which is Khareef, the temperatures are much cooler there.
But it is more than that. The efforts of the Department of Tourism, Salalah Municipality and resorts owners like Hawana are commendable and should be encouraged to spread in other areas of the country. That brings the subject of Oman’s capital city of Muscat where tourism facilities need to match what we have in the south of the country.
Currently, Muscat is cool again and we can see the signs of frost up in the mountains as the temperature in December starts to drop. Though we have a good number of hotels around the city, but the number of visitors is still not on the high side. In my humble opinion, that is clearly not enough just to have good rated hotels and expect tourists to come in a good number.
Now we have more people walking in the streets of Muscat during the evening and the beaches are full of cars at the sidewalks. The sun is still bright but not hot and the air is cool as it blows from different directions. But they are hardly any tourists. We need to have all season tourist attractions in our capital city and other areas of Oman. Not just Salalah.
Three million tourists a year visit Oman. That is not enough. The statistics show most of them go to Salalah. They use Muscat as a transit only. Not enough of them go to other cities, ether. If the promoters of Salalah get it right, then that should encourage other promoters to cover the rest of the country. The rewards from tourism income are good if we get it right.
Someone was asking ‘how is Salalah promoters getting it right all the time?”
When I go there, I see thousands of tourists from Europe walking about. From the beaches all the way to the markets, restaurants and shops. Local businesses get a big boost throughout the year. Not just from the hotels. Not to mention our national flights of Oman Air and Salam Air which are almost fully booked throughout the year.
Without any doubt, the economy is booming there throughout the year. It is set to grow further year by year just because some people are doing the right thing there in that southern city of our country. They deserve the credit for making this city a great tourism attraction. The question remains what does it take for that effort to spread the rest of the country? Perhaps a little imagination or learning from them?
Tourism obviously is a major income for most countries of the world and Oman has the potential to upgrade the facilities countrywide to make it a success. Salalah is a good example.
