How was the Tourism season last year, especially for Majan Continental Hotel?

It has been a steady growth for the hospitality industry in the Sultanate of Oman. The hospitality sector is emerging as a major player in the economy and  statistics reveal the tourism sector has grown by 10.6 per cent in 2006.

This growth helped us maintain our average occupancy level at very high level. The year 2008 has been a very good year in terms of occupancy as well as food and beverage revenue. We had a very high occupancy throughout the year, with very high arrival of tourists and business clients. Our food and beverages outlets were extremely busy throughout of the year. We have a strong corporate clients market as well as well as regular leisure travelers market.

What are the new initiatives taken to boost occupancy figures? Anything like new restaurant or so?

Yes, we are currently in the process of introducing a couple of new concept restaurants.  A multi-cuisine restaurant with an open kitchen where the guests can see their food is being prepared with their own eyes. The restaurant will offer Arabic specialties as well as well  authentic tandoori and moghul cuisine. The restaurant also features a pizza kitchen where you can order your favorite deep pan pizza watch how it is been prepared. This  restaurant will be opened to the public in December 2008.
A unique roof top restaurant  is also coming up. Its  elegant luxury ambience will enhance the luxury dining experience. This enchanting and fascinating restaurant will be opening in January 2009.

We have increased our number of rooms to one hundred and sixty two brand new rooms and six suites. We have added a new executive room’s floor with extra luxury amenities and facilities for our executive clients. The executive floor clients have free access to our new luxury business lounge. The lounge offers free tea, coffee facilities as well as light snacks and free internet facilities throughout the day.

Majan today is an inspiring and relaxing place to be. Our mission to be friendliest hotel whilst providing luxury yet affordable accommodation to our clients. We are adaptable and flexible to our client’s requirements.
We provide customer value through value chain. This helps us increase our occupancy figures.

Where do your guests come from?

Majority of guests are from G.C.C. countries as well as from Europe, mostly Swiss, French as well as German tourists. We also do have a strong local regular clientele staying with us.

What are the major MICE activities planned for 2008 and do have a strategy in place to develop this market segment?

MICE industry is the one of the fastest growing segment in the tourism industry generating millions of revenue for many cities and countries. Europe and United States is still remaining the major market in respect of number of meetings, conferences and exhibitions

As a part of our long term strategic plan of offering conference facilities to our corporate business clients we are revamping our conference hall. It will be a brand new conference hall, equipped with state of art conference facilities. We will be adding two more conference room in the future. Our objective is to become preferred place for corporate   conferences segment. We have a highly trained banquet team and the conference coordinator will ensure that the client’s requirements are met and exceed their expectations.
The Sultanate of Oman has great potential as a major destination in the Middle East for the MICE industry. The Meeting incentive and conference market will serve as a foundation on which new investments, industrial growth and business tourism will be built.

What is your forecast for Oman Tourism for the Future?

As per the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report 2008 on Sultanate of Oman, the economic impact of tourism is tremendous.  The report says that travel and tourism will contribute 2.1 per cent to GDP in 2008 that is Omani Riyals 362.8 million or US$ dollars 943.7 million and rising up to Omani Riyals 617.2 million or US$ 1605.3 million, three per cent of the total  GDP by 2018. Leisure and holiday travel will grow by 5 per cent and business travel will grow  6.7 per cent  per year respectively .

This is a good indication of how the tourism industry will grow in the future in the Sultanate of Oman. Furthermore, the Sultanate of Oman is a country blessed with beautiful mountains, wadis and a great landscape, friendly people and beautiful infrastructure and clean cities and stable economy.
Due to vise leadership and long term vision of His  Majesty Sultan Qaboos many tourism projects have been developed in Oman, including  leisure and sports facilities for international events. The Ministry of Tourism has been very successful through their hard work in promoting the Sultanate of Oman abroad. This has resulted in Oman becoming a new premier holiday destination to many tourists.

Are you expecting any downside compared to last year due to the Global Financial crisis?

The tourism industry will have a rough ride over the months ahead but those who think and act strategically and have to ability to adapt their business model quickly to the new realities will overcome this challenge. As per the statistics, Oman has allocated around 15 sites for tourism developments it estimates will cost $20 billion over the next seven years, as part of its plans to lure a million visitors by 2009. All of these sites are classified as tourist projects.

Because of these difficult times it will definitely have some effect on peoples spending capacity and disposable income. Due to this fact we will have a slight impact on inbound tourism next year. But overall with the kind of tourism projects development and other industrial development in Oman we will be in better position to sustain our forecasts next year.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council,  tourism world wide expected to generate $8trillion in 2008 rising up to approximately 415trillion over the next ten years. And, Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA)  research report shows only a moderate impact on travel and tourism as a result of the global economic down turn. As per the report looking beyond the 2008 downturn, the long term forecast points to a mature but steady phase of growth for the world tourism industry between 2008 and 2018, averaging a growth rate of 4.4 percent per annum in  the middle east region.