With the recently established convention bureau by the Ministry of Tourism, Oman is set to become a major regional centre for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE). Explaining the new initiative, Salim Al Mamari, Director General of Tourism Promotion – Ministry of Tourism, Oman said, “The Ministry of Tourism is fully committed towards enhancing the MICE sector in Oman to help the Sultanate achieve its potential to be a first class destination for this sector. Our Tourism Strategy for 2040 has MICE as a major pillar for the future to help us grow and enhance the industry. “The objective of the Bureau is to support the international and local organizations in hosting their events and cater to their requirements. The main aim is to promote Oman as an ideal destination for the MICE tourism sector”
The Ministry has appointed, Khalid Al Zadjali, to become the Managing Director of the new Oman Convention Bureau. He says, “The Ministry’s initiative in establishing the Bureau under its supervision is an important milestone in building the solid foundations that will help us achieve our objectives in the MICE tourism sector in the future. “We will enhance this sector and regulate the processes to ensure the smoothest experience for organisations wishing to host events in Oman and actively promote what Oman has to offer to the MICE market internationally.”
In practical terms, the MICE area will receive a significant boost in 2016 with the scheduled opening of the Oman Convention Centre in Muscat in the last quarter of this year. The convention centre will include state of the art theatres, conference rooms and four hotels with almost 1000 rooms along with major exhibition halls that can cater to tens of thousands of people at one time.
The sector will also be boosted by the ongoing expansions and enhancement of Muscat International Airport that will initially increase capacity to 12 million passengers a year arriving in a modern new terminal and with capacity to expand to take up to 48 million passengers a year.
The ambitious new tourism strategy for Oman plans to grow international visitor numbers to 5.3 million by 2040.
