DR SALIM AL FLAITI
Tourism stories often focus on destinations — iconic landscapes, headline attractions and record visitor numbers. But the most decisive factor in a visitor’s experience is human: the receptionist who solves a problem, the guide who brings a heritage site to life, the young graduate who chooses to build a career in hospitality rather than treat it as a stopgap. If we want responsible tourism, we must start with responsible jobs — good training, fair opportunity, clear career paths and partnerships that make those things real.
OMRAN GROUP’s #IAmTourism strategy was launched with this conviction. Framed around four practical pillars — Educate, Attract, Retain and Partner — it aims to turn tourism into a profession of choice for Omanis, not a last resort. Between 2022 and 2025, the programme has built awareness in schools, opened structured entry routes into hotels and tourism businesses, invested in leadership development and coordinated government, education and industry around a simple idea: responsible tourism is impossible without a motivated, skilled and proud workforce.
Why this matters now
Across the region — and globally — tourism can create thousands of jobs quickly. But the sector has also struggled with turnover, skills gaps and the perception that hospitality work is low-status. Those challenges weaken service quality and limit the social benefits tourism can deliver. Responsible tourism demands more: beyond just jobs and into meaningful careers.
Four pillars at a glance
Educate — We cannot recruit people into careers they do not understand. Through school roadshows, classroom modules delivered with the Global Travel & Tourism Partnership (GTTP) and college collaboration, #IAmTourism shows young Omanis what real tourism work looks like: creative, technology-enabled, team-based and connected to national pride. Teachers and career advisers are engaged, too — because they influence choices well before graduation.
Attract — Interest needs a doorway. Programmes such as Midhiyaf (training plus hotel placements), MASARAT (graduate development with job rotations and mentoring) and GIFTed (pathways for people with disabilities) give clear, supported routes into the sector. The message is simple: if you’re motivated to serve and to learn, there is a structured path for you — and it doesn’t require leaving Oman to progress.
Retain — Keeping talent is as important as finding it. SHIFT and LIFT build supervisory and managerial capability through blended learning and workplace projects, while GIFT focuses on advancing women into leadership. Retention improves when people see a future for themselves, feel included and have managers who coach rather than just schedule.
Partner — No single organisation can fix a system problem. #IAmTourism works with the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Development, leading hotel groups and global partners such as WTTC and GTTP. Partnerships align policy, training and real jobs — turning good intentions into daily practice.
What’s changing on the ground
•Career identity is strengthening. The narrative is shifting from “temporary job” to “professional pathway”. School engagement and role-model storytelling make a visible difference to how families view the sector.
•Entry barriers are lower. Structured programmes provide paid, mentored experience — critical for young people who cannot afford unpaid internships or trial-and-error job hunting.
•Retention is improving. When newcomers receive coaching, progression plans and recognition, they stay. Leadership programmes are not a luxury; they are the backbone of workforce stability.
•Inclusion is moving from slogan to practice. Initiatives for women and people with disabilities widen the talent pool and reflect the values visitors increasingly look for when they choose where to travel.
Lessons other destinations can use
1.Make workforce part of your responsibility agenda. Environmental action and cultural stewardship matter — but so does job quality. Track not only how many roles are created, but who accesses them, who advances and who stays.
2.Tell a better story about tourism work. Young people choose futures they can visualise. Use real practitioners and real workplaces, not stock photos, to show what modern hospitality does and why it matters.
3.Build bridges, not bottlenecks. Align schools, colleges and employers around shared standards and shared incentives. A three-month placement with mentoring beats a year of classroom theory on its own.
4.Invest in first-line leaders. Supervisors determine daily experience. Equip them to coach, resolve conflict and grow people and then retention will follow.
5.Design for inclusion from day one. Programmes like GIFT and GIFTed prove that accessibility and gender equity are not add-ons — they’re performance multipliers.
A human story behind the numbers
Consider a typical Midhiyaf participant: a college leaver from outside Muscat who was unsure about hospitality. After structured classroom learning, she rotated through front office and F&B, then joined a leadership development track. A few years later, she mentors incoming trainees. Her journey is not unique — and that’s the point. When the system works, individual success becomes predictable, not exceptional.
What success looks like
For guests, it’s better service and authentic encounters. For businesses, it’s lower turnover and stronger teams. For the country, it’s diversified growth, local pride and careers that keep talent close to home. For tourism itself, it’s responsibility made real — measured not only in carbon saved or heritage preserved, but in people who thrive at work.
The road ahead
No strategy eliminates every challenge. Skills must keep pace with new technologies and collaboration must outlast political cycles. Yet Oman’s approach offers a practical blueprint: Educate early, Attract through fair entry routes, Retain by growing leaders and valuing well-being and Partner across government, education and industry. That is how destinations move from promises to progress.
Responsible tourism starts with responsible jobs. When we invest in people, the whole destination improves — one welcome, one service recovery, one promoted supervisor at a time.
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