Salim Mohammed al Mahrouqi, Minister of Heritage and Tourism, confirmed that the heritage sector enjoys generous patronage and direct attention from His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, as heritage is a solid national pillar that extends back thousands of years, commemorating a great legacy of civilizational achievements.
During a session held on Sunday at the Shura Council, the Minister also asserted that the new Tourism Law is in its final stages, and its draft is available at the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs.
An urgent intervention will be made to complete the development of the Ain Al Kasfa site in the Wilayat of Rustaq.
The session, which was held to discuss the ministry’s statement, highlighted some topics like the tourism sector in light of the current and future impacts of the (Covid-19) pandemic, development of legislation organising the tourism sector, future of tourism marketing and promotion, human resources in the tourism sector, policies, plans and programmes of the ministry is working on in the field of heritage.
“Ministry has intensified efforts to build an integrated system for the management of tombstones and monuments, to sustain protect, document, restore, and maintain them in specialised museums, in addition to registering a number of them in the World Heritage list. Besides, the ministry is keen to activate studies for developing craft industries, and converting them into investment projects in coordination with the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada)” he added.
He indicated that the scope of archaeological surveys and excavation programme has been extended, new programmes in sunken antiquities, and in combating the illicit trade in cultural property, and in a series of specialised archaeological scientific publications have been created.
The Minister of Heritage and Tourism pointed that the tourism sector has witnessed a steady growth during the past years in its indicators. “The sector’s total production reaches RO 1.3 billion by the end of 2019, with a direct added value of RO 718 million, compared to RO 700 million in 2018, which constitutes 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product. The number of inbound visitors has risen to t 3.5 million visitors in 2019”.
Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, the minister clarified, “tourism sector has been affected by the Corona pandemic since the first quarter of last year, which led to a decrease of 75 percent, bringing the number to 875,000 visitors. The number of hotel guests decreased by 52 percent, and this was reflected in its revenues which dropped by 63 per cent compared to 2019”.
However, al Mahrouqi mentioned that the Ministry adopted a number of incentives and procedures; to reduce the effects of the pandemic on the tourism sector. It has prepared an ambitious plan to promote, restore traditional markets, and expand into promising and exporting markets for tourism.
For the future plans, the Minister of Heritage and Tourism said, “The ministry’s plan for tourism promotion during the next three years is to target international or regional conferences and exhibitions, and to focus on the meetings sector and incentive groups regionally and internationally through the representative tourism offices “.
He also mentioned, “There is a plan and intensive work by the ministry in cooperation with the concerned authorities to take advantage of the Expo 2021 Dubai and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, to attract tourists and take advantage of the opportunities in this aspect”.
Overall, The Ministry aims to attract total investments worth RO 3 billion during the next three years within the programmes of attracting investments and developing exports, which stems from the priorities of Oman 2040 Vision.
“The ministry is making unremitting efforts in developing the environment and the labor market in the tourism sector, identifying the underlying challenges, organising the mechanism of contracts for the right to usufruct of tourist lands, and developing tourist destinations in accordance with financial and professional requirements and standards and the requirements of the labour market and its need, leading to the diversification of the tourism product, promotion of the competitive tourism quality of tourism services, in addition to establishing facilities for tourism services and guidance, in coordination with the concerned governorates and municipalities” al Mahrouqi stated.
I replied to the Council members, the minister said that the ministry intervenes by withdrawing or imposing penalties on those who delay or not implement projects on any lands for which usufruct agreements have been signed, pointing that Hafa development project combines modernity and heritage. “there are a number of heritage houses that will be included within the project, and this phase that was announced is the first phase only, but the end of the project will be comprehensive” he explained.
He added that “One of the important products in the tourism sector is the activities of desert adventures. The ministry works to complete the regulations for the Sharqiya Sands and expand those regulations to be more comprehensive, so they preserve the privacy of local communities and preserve the components of the environment”.
About the recovery plan, the minister asserted that it includes domestic tourism and includes cultural, geological and adventure tourism.
During the session, he indicated that there is a budget to support private museums. “These museums will be visited soon to find out their conditions, as some of them have rare collections and must be examined. Also, museum exhibitions will be provided in castles and forts”.
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