Muscat, Oct 17 - Apart from budget hotels, there is a need to offer more facilities that are affordable as Oman aims to tap middle-class tourists from countries like Russia, China and India.
Recently, the authorities announced that Oman would be offering non-sponsored visas to tourists from these countries on certain conditions.
The decision is seen as a first step towards bringing more international travellers to Oman.
“The common point among tourists from these countries is they are from the middle-class, but at the same time they have a different culture. We need to develop facilities accordingly,” said several tour operators in Muscat.
Indian tourists may feel at home because of the presence of a large number of Indian expatriate and business community.
Yet they may look for affordable budget hotel rooms, and efficient and cheaper public transport.
Public transport in Muscat has improved with the revamp of bus services and the launch of a new on-demand taxi service.
“Bus service is changing but the reach is limited to main routes and not much has changed on the taxi front despite the revamp plans announced two years ago,” said AbdulLatif, a travel executive.
“A number of hotels have been announced in the three to four-star categories but they are still on the expensive side. The organised taxi travel for a short distance of less than 2 km starts from around RO 3. Compare the taxi fares with other places, including Dubai or Abu Dhabi.”
Travel operators feel tourists from emerging countries will not go for car rentals unlike those from the western countries. “Currently, non-sponsored visas will be only given to those holding entry visas to EU, US or Australia, but they may still not be affluent spenders like the business travellers on sponsored junkets,” said a travel operator who didn’t want to be named.
According to Tourism Competitiveness Report released this year, Oman scores heavily on safety and security and reliability of police services. At the same time, travel industry sources, said the report, feel there is scope for more improvement on hotel rooms’ availability, tourism infrastructure, ground transport efficiency and air connectivity.
Vinod Nair
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