Let me be honest. I have been critical for a long time about Oman's aspirations to grow the economy around tourism. Around eight years ago, I wrote a long paper on the subject that I can summarise in three points: one, the statistics used to measure tourism were leading to some delusional thinking. Two, Oman was not really making progress in terms of facilities. And three, the best opportunities to grow this sector lay with regional tourism, especially to Salalah.
To a degree, the first and third points still count. How statistics are used in planning is important, and the good statistics available are only useful if they are measuring what we think they are measuring. As for target markets, the continued growth of the Khareef festival and the beautiful resorts now available in Salalah are making good use of Oman's geography. Neighbouring countries have a great place to visit without visas, long flights or language barriers.
But on the question of Oman's overall progress as a tourist destination, there has been a significant step up over the last few years. It's easy to become jaded and sceptical when you live in a country for a long time. After a while, you take things for granted – scenery, history, a general sense of peace and pleasantness. You think first of small bureaucratic annoyances, traffic issues and any normal irritations of daily life. If you're not careful, you start to define where you live by small problems and forget how fortunate you are as part of the big picture. Two things happened last year to wake me up to Oman's genuine charms as a visitor destination.
A couple of months ago, I was asked to contribute to a feature on Oman in a leading travel magazine. Unfortunately, I wasn't the lucky one being paid to try out fancy hotels and restaurants, but instead I had to look over the available activities, culture and natural charms of the country as someone who knows it well. It was an eye-opening exercise to really think about what a visitor with an open mind can do in this country. Walking a via ferrata across the sheer cliffs of Al Jabal Al Akhdhar, hot air ballooning in the Sharqiya sands, every kind of maritime adventure...and of course all the shiny new hotels to rest in. Oman has come a long way.
What really reset my understanding of how Oman looks was having visitors of my own. Friends from the UK visited early in the year, and although they have been here before, they were full of enthusiasm for the things we no longer notice: a clean, modern airport that took minutes to pass through. Wide roads, gleaming shopping malls, and - most of all - friendly people. They were charmed by the Muscat Festival setup in Al Qurm Natural Park. They loved visiting the National Museum, Nakhal Fort, spending the day on the beach at a couple of different hotels, and walking along the Mattrah Corniche.
Nakhal was a great example of the simple things that make a difference. Many years ago, I remember talking to a tourism official about the need to put basic infrastructure into these beautiful sites. Tourist need need clean bathrooms, somewhere to get a drink and a snack and a souvenir. These are small investments that pay for themselves and create local jobs. Now, Nakhal Fort has proper facilities including a coffee shop inside the fort itself and a sympathetically-designed bathroom outside. The Omani staff are multi-lingual and friendly, from the guides to the gardener and available all day.
Small things representing big progress! In the last few months, I've also been to Nizwa with my grown up son, again with modern facilities. The souq is fun, and we met some impressive young Omanis selling khanjars and handicrafts with great skill and expertise – in salesmanship as well as technical knowledge! I've also visited the brilliantly-refurbished Al Mirani Fort in Muscat. Sitting outside with drinks from the cafe on a quiet Ramadhan evening was just beautiful. On a more practical note, I was really impressed with the efforts made to make it accessible – lifts, ramps and an accessible bathroom are there for visitors with mobility limitations (or a baby buggy in my case).
In a competitive global tourist industry, you cannot stand still. But it's a credit to the tourism stakeholders in Oman that the efforts of the last few years are starting to show. Those of us who live here should also make the best of it – we might not know what we've been missing!
Alex Brown
The author is a strategic policy consultant and a former diplomat
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