SALALAH: European tourist groups began arriving in Dhofar Governorate as the winter tourism season got underway.
The first cohort of European tourists from the Czech Republic and Slovakia arrived in Salalah Airport within the framework of a strategy drawn up by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and aimed at promoting Dhofar Governorate as an all-year-round tourist destination.
Marwan bin Abdulhakim al Ghassani, director of the department of tourism promotion at the Directorate-General of Heritage and Tourism in Dhofar, said that the ministry, in cooperation with its partners in the tourism sector, activated plans for attracting more charter flights and cruise ships from European countries. He stressed the importance of the efforts made by the ministry in cooperation with tourism partners to do whatever necessary to make the tourist season a success.
The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, in conjunction with the winter tourism season, will, over the upcoming period, carry out multiple tourism events and programmes for both local and international tourism. The most notable among these being the frankincense season scheduled for late November and the Empty Quarter Festival in the Niyabat of Al Shasr in the Wilayat of Thumrait, the official said.
Al Ghassani added that Dhofar Governorate possesses huge tourism potentials and attractions that enable it to become a preferred tourist destination for tourists from the world over, particularly European tourists. Dhfoar has moderate weather throughout the year and environmental and terrain diversity, in addition to sandy beaches, mountains, valleys, deserts, caves and bays rich in aquatic life that attract divers.
The winter tourism season in Dhofar Governorate constitutes an essential element for the local economy and has a positive direct and indirect impact on the tourism industry be it through the growth of scheduled or charter flights to Salalah Airport as well as the increase in cruise ship traffic at the Port of Salalah, he said. — ONA
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