Opportunities aplenty for tourism to contribute to GDP

The economic diversification policy and utilising and enhancing non-oil resources remain primary economic objectives in the Sultanate. This policy was advocated by the government for more than four decades. What has been achieved so far requires shedding more light to enable the country to depend on the wealth and components of the various economic sectors, especially following the organisation of workshops for stakeholders through the ‘Tanfeedh programme and the participation of many officials from government and private sectors to improve business in Oman.

Today, economic diversification is considered a strategic trend to drive growth in light of the circumstances surrounding global oil markets that dictate the need to shift from a single commodity-based economy — oil — to the development of other sectors.

This is to stimulate overall development of the economy, which requires making positive changes in the national economy through the development of non-oil activities.

In the tourism sector, there is a lot to be done and utilised as elements that attract tourists from around the world, like forts, mosques, heritage markets and historical tombs. Moreover, the Sultanate is known for its unique nature, rich reserves, natural caves, sand dunes, mountain ranges, islands and springs that can be utilised to promote and enhance its tourism image.

This is in addition to the Sultanate’s strategic location of falling between three large continents (Asia, Africa and Europe), which boosts its ability to host and organise bigger international and regional events to attract more investors and tourists to the country. All of these factors are promising opportunities to increase the sector’s contribution to GDP in this sector.

Tanfeedh programme revealed a myriad of challenges facing the tourism sector, including the complexity and length of application procedures to obtain necessary approvals, lack of innovative services, products and tourism activities and the ineffective spending on marketing, which does not reflect the image of Oman’s rich culture and heritage, thus preventing the growth of the sector as required.

The programme revealed that the tourism sector suffers from overlapping procedures adopted by various government agencies in issuing basic licences and approvals, such as industry, logistics, services, banking, finance and others. There are also difficulties in achieving targeted growth rates in this sector.

A quick view of the tourism sector and its contribution to the Omani economy — based on data from Tanfeedh programme — it can be revealed that the Sultanate’s GDP is low, averaging 2.2 per cent over the period 2010-2015. The Sultanate is ranked fifth among GCC States in the number of overnight tourists, equivalent to only 4 per cent of the 49 million visitors to GCC States during 2014. There are many opportunities and possibilities this sector, along with opportunities to in improve the reality of Omanis working in this sector in case of its growth and expansion and its potential in areas of travel, recreation, parks, tours, etc., as well as proper utilisation of existing facilities such as lodging, accommodation, food and beverages, transportation, etc. To achieve the Sultanate’s ambitions in this sector, investments need to be doubled and facilitated from the private sector.

Business environment in the tourism sector is influenced by many policies and procedures that must be harmonised among stakeholders to provide more efficient and smooth services to beneficiaries. This environment is also linked to many laws and regulations governing the sector as well as the procedures and policies of rental and borrowing related to land used in tourism activities, labour market policies and employment and access to finance.

Good indicators can be achieved both in terms of increasing the number of tourists visiting annually by 2020 to about five million, in addition to increasing the added value of the tourism sector, injecting new investments from the private sector and increasing the number of new jobs which are abundant in the tourism sector.