Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Oman set to become hub for conference tourism

Haider-al-Lawati
Haider-al-Lawati
minus
plus

Haider Al Lawati - haiderdawood@hotmail.com - Efforts exerted by the Sultanate in the field of tourism not only include enhancing hotel structure, constructing freeways and providing logistics, but also its efforts to become a hub for international conferences whether in the field of tourism or others.


This has prompted the country to host the recent events of the annual congress of the International Congress and Conference Association in partnership with the new Oman Conference and Exhibition Centre in Muscat.


This first-of-its-kind event is expected to contribute in promoting the conference tourism sector in the Sultanate, how to develop it and mechanisms of attracting it, in addition to enabling the concerned agencies to build strategic relations with similar global associations and companies and benefiting from their experiences in organising tourism conferences.


This event is aimed at utilising the completed infrastructure in the field of logistics and investing all that is offered by the new Oman Conference and Exhibition Centre.


The centre was built by international standards on an area covering 22,000 square metres, including an amphitheatre with 3,200 seats, multipurpose halls for meetings accommodating thousands of attendants and 1,100 adjacent hotel rooms.


The aim is to expand the scope of institutional operations and enhance the conferences and meetings industry in the Sultanate.


Meanwhile, the Sultanate is planning to increase the number of hotel rooms to 25,000 by 2020. This represents one of the components for attracting more investments to Oman and the region along with more tourists from all over the world, whilst creating new opportunities in the field of incentives and conference tourism in the country.


With the opening of Oman Conference and Exhibition Centre just 10 minutes away from Muscat International Airport, construction of freeways and fulfilling the needs of the growing number of visitors for recreational, business and conference tourism, Oman’s tourism sector is expected to witness rapid growth in the next few years.


The exhibition industry is also expected to witness a qualitative and remarkable move that can put the Sultanate in the ranks of countries sponsoring and fostering the industry across the region and the world, which requires creating a suitable environment of laws and facilities that take the industry to higher performance levels in the future.


It is a well-known fact that conference tourism currently represents a major economic resource for many countries, leaving the field wide open for thousands of young people to work in the various vocations and businesses required by visitors and tourists.


The importance of this industry, which specialises in organising and holding international conferences and exhibitions, lies in the fact that it attracts over 400 million visitors worldwide annually, according to officials from the industry.


No doubt that by organising the latest ICCA annual congress in Muscat, the concerned agencies have introduced delegates to the potentials and capabilities enjoyed by the conference and exhibition tourism industry in Oman, as well as the logistic infrastructure developed by the Sultanate in the past two decades.


Meanwhile, the institutions concerned are setting up new facilities to make Oman a launching pad for a host of events in the fields of tourism and major annual conferences and exhibitions and building strategic relations with similar associations and companies from different parts of the world, especially with many local colleges currently educating, qualifying and training Omani youth to carry out the tasks needed by this sector.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon