It’s time to boost domestic tourism

Most likely many of us have been tourists at some point of time in our lives, though defining what tourism actually is can be difficult somehow. However, tourism is simply the activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for different reasons.

Having leisure, business or other purposes are just to name a few motives for travelling. In other words, tourism could stand as a social, cultural and economic phenomenon, involving people moving from a country to another or to a place within their home country.

As tourism is travel for either pleasure or business, it also involve the practice of touring, business of attracting, accommodating and entertaining tourists, as well as the business of operating tours. Likewise, it reflects the natural resources, local attractions, facilities and a variety of services that generate unique experiences for each of the visitors. Tourism’s significance is marked as being one of the most important economic activities for countries as it also feeds other types of local industries.

In many countries around the world, tourism is regarded one of the main generators of economic earnings. For instance, one in every 11 employees works in any of tourism-related branches, according to data collected by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). In addition, tourism also influences growth in infrastructure, with the opening of hotels, restaurants, shops and backing public transport and individuals’ businesses. Tourism also raises the profile of visited places in general, which translates into improvement in infrastructure, roads, health and education for people living in those areas.

Moreover, good experiences help people become interested in knowing and experiencing what a country can offer them. Therefore, the support of locals is very essential as well to promote interesting places and share positive experiences. On the other hand, travelling is a great source of personal growth; visiting different places changes one’s perception to have a broader vision of what other parts of the word have. Travelling also helps people to interact in different realities, customs and cultures.

However, after the setback due to coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic that has left large losses within the tourism industry worldwide, people have been reluctant to travel overseas. Hence, they are forced to depend on touring around within their own countries and experience internal tourism. Probably, this kind of conservative and precautionary approach would actively help promoting internal tourism in most parts of the world. For that reason, some people might be more interested in touring around the different tourist destinations within their country.

On the domestic front, many would prefer to spend their time, especially during summer break, within the Sultanate. Aiming to stay away from much infected destinations worldwide and to stay safe, they will enjoy their holiday visiting various tourist landmarks and places in different parts of the country. Therefore, this pandemic helps promoting and investing more in internal tourism rather than travelling abroad, offering the opportunity to discover new tourist destinations and help the national economy to thrive.

Consequently, this coronavirus global pandemic urges countries, including the Sultanate, to invest more in promoting the internal tourism. As well, it brings different lessons for the government and private sectors to increase their investments in tourist landmarks, facilities and services. Moreover, this marks a call on all authorities and parties concerned with tourism sector to re-explore the investment opportunities in tourism through various aspects and sectors. These two years of the pandemic will make us learn lessons and opportunities to develop tourism sector in the country.

Tourism is a dynamic and competitive industry that requires the ability to adapt constantly to customers and tourists’ changing needs and desires. The customer’s satisfaction, safety and enjoyment are particularly the major focus of tourism businesses. Thus, it is time now to revisit the plans and strategy of tourism sector in Oman and bring out of the box tourism experiences.