SUGGEST Muscat to one of your clients and it’s likely they won’t even know where it is.
The Middle Eastern destination only opened itself up to tourism eight years ago and has not yet made in-roads into the UKmarket.
“It’s a very new destination and not many people know that we exist. We also have the problem that a lot of people confuse Oman with Amman in Jordan,”said Gautam Broota, manager of Muscat-based destination and leisure management company Zubair Tours.
Muscat is situated in the Sultanate of Oman and although it is just 4hrs drive from Dubai, it is years behind its neighbour in terms of awareness in the UK.
It is only featured by a handful of upmarket operators, including Abercrombie and Kent and Bales Tours, but even with these companies capacities are small.
Of the 20,000 overseas tourism visitors to Oman in 1998, 80% were from Europe but the majority of these were from Germany and Switzerland.
Broota estimated that the UK was the fifth-largest European market, behind Austria and the Netherlands.
“However, if you look at total visitor numbers, including people who work here or are visiting friends and family, the UK is number one,” he added.
While Dubai has an active tourist board in the UK and other key markets, Oman is not represented in any overseas market at all.
“Everyone knows Dubai – we are a good complementary city to Dubai with our culture and heritage. There is a total contrast,” said Broota.
Although Oman is keen to sell itself as a twin centre with Dubai, there are no joint marketing efforts between the two.
“Dubai promotes Dubai – it should have no reason to promote Oman but it is beginning to realise that to promote Dubai, it has to promote the whole region as a peaceful region,” said Broota.
The Omani government held talks earlier this month about how it could establish a tourism marketing presence overseas. It is likely to start in Europe but any presence is unlikely to be centred in the UK.
In the meantime, Muscat is focusing on the conference and incentive market in the UK. It believes its unique selling point is that it can offer as much as Dubai in terms of activities – four wheel drives in the desert and on the wadis (dry river beds); banquets and overnight camps in the desert; camel racing; and dhow cruises – but also the culture and heritage that Dubai lacks.
While Dubai is sometimes referred to as the Hong Kong of the Middle East, Muscat is likened to Singapore. But it has none of the high rise buildings of its Far Eastern counterpart – the comparison is based purely on its remarkable cleanliness.
Like Singapore, Muscat’s roads are lined with flowers and trees shipped in from London’s Kew Gardens. A state-of-the-art watering system keeps the city green despite temperatures of up to 50C in the height of the summer.
One of the obstacles to be overcome for Muscat as a tourist destination is the current visa requirements for UK visitors. Visas cost ú50 and take at least seven working days to process, but companies like Zubair Tours can assist by helping with the application process. Visitors fax passport details and then a ZubairTours representatives will meet them on arrival, before immigration, to organise visa collections.
The visa restrictions have been relaxed in the last few years and talks are now under way with Dubai to ease restrictions between the two countries. This will mean UK visitors could access Oman via Dubai without a visa. Broota claims the cost is not an issue for the upmarket client the destination is targeting.