Salalah sees huge holiday rush

Call it hospitality or some sense of responsibility towards the outstations guests, most of the Salalah residents are waiting to get over the Eid holidays to visit tourist destinations. They have their reasons for this. They want the guests to enjoy as they themselves are enjoying the nice and early Khareef from the beginning of June. They also want to avoid the rush on city roads, which are flooded with vehicles all over.

Similar is the case with the tourist spots and even restaurants, which are having flow of customers. Most of them are not able to accommodate all of them. Many outstations guests are seen waiting for tables as waiting time in most of the restaurants is as high as 30 to 40 minutes.

“The rush in our restaurant started from August 19. We are opening early and closing late due to the rush. Customers want early breakfast and it is easy for us also if we are ready with our stuff early in the morning. It is late for most of the visitors to come back after visiting tourist sites. By 9pm it is difficult to manage as most of the customers come by that time to have dinner,” said manager of a popular restaurant in central Salalah.

George, a visitor from Dubai, admitted that it took 30 minutes for him to get a table for dinner on Wednesday. Lunch time is comparatively easy for the restaurants as most of the visitors choose to have ‘brunch’ or take packed food to have it during lunch time.

All the city roads are full of cars coming either from GCC countries or from northern parts of Oman, as an early report from statistical centre NCSI suggested 76 per cent tourists arrived in Salalah through roads and 24 per cent by air.

Those 24 per cent who came by air are using some mode of transport that ultimately is putting pressure on Salalah roads.

“As of now it is very difficult to reach up to the end point of Wadi Darbat due to huge rush of traffic and not much space to park vehicles. If somehow you manage to enter, it is very difficult to come out,” said Salalah resident Akram Ali.

Similar is the case with all other sites. Clever are those who are parking their vehicles slightly far from the sites and walk down. “It is easy to come back after spending some time at a tourist site if you park your car slightly further.

Moreover, it is risky to go very close to tourist sites on vehicles as the visitors along with small children walk leisurely. Any small carelessness from any side can become an issue. It is advisable thus to park your cars slightly far,” said another visitor Eshraq al Nahdi.

Salalah resident Ghazi al Hamer found Eid al Adha holidays good time to spend with family and friends. He admitted that he tried to remain at his house and hosted relatives and friends, to avoid rush in the city.

“I am waiting to see ease in the rush, which is quite likely from Sunday, to take my family to places around Salalah. I wanted to take them during the Eid holidays but deferred due to the rush,” he said.