Saturday 23 / November / 2024
Muscat: As the Khareef season is approaching, organisers of the first hot air balloon festival are expecting a big jump in the number of tourists heading to Dhofar Governorate.
While more than 800,000 people visited Salalah for Khareef last year, officials from the organising committee of the festival expect the number to reach up to one million in 2019.
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The festival is scheduled to take place from July 20 to August 25 in the Dhofar region.
Talking to media on Wednesday, Khalid Al Nabhani, Chairman of Sabeen Group, said they are expecting to have at least one million visitors in the month-long festival that will also include cultural and musical events.
Good climate
“Salalah is the perfect place to host this event because of the climate. The hot air balloon festival will change the phase of tourism in the country. This will now be an annual event and we urge investors and SME owners to come forward to be part of this great festival,” Al Nabhani said.
He added that each balloon will be able to accommodate between 5-10 people at a time, and the entry to the festival is OMR500 baisa per person.
The organising committee is also planning to visit various GCC countries to actively promote it.
Flights to Salalah have also increased this season with airlines allocating more planes to fly to and from the Dhofar region.
In addition to that, working ATMs and cleaner restrooms will also be at the disposal of tourists as these two components were on the agenda for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry while gearing up for this year’s Khareef.
In preparation for the season, which falls between June 21 and September 21 of each year, the ministry met with the competent authorities to highlight the important details that need to be in place. All present confirmed that each sector was ready to cope with the influx of tourists.
