(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has made various efforts to promote the khareef season. It hosted popular Arab satellite news channel representatives to produce reports on it. These channels include Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and some other Gulf channels.
The ministry also came out with advertisements urging people to visit Salalah and enjoy khareef in Dhofar through MBC channels. Similarly, social media luminaries of the Gulf region were hosted by the ministry. They include Sheikh Majid al Sabah, who did exceptional coverage attracting massive interactions and response from his followers. During this period, the number of his followers reached 6mn.
The ministry also presented the programmeGuest of Khareef
produced by Sama Art Productions Company which hosted some of the prominent Gulf personalities who have influential accounts in social media with millions of followers. A number of programmes likeUshsh Safari
on MBC3 were aired for family viewership.
The promotional campaigns carried out by MoT were successful in attracting large number of visitors for the khareef season.By the end of the seventh week, the number reached 2,000.It is said that it is the best khareef season so far. This has made Dhofar governorate the most prominent summer tourist destinations of the Arab world.
Marhoon bin Said bin Mubarak al Ameri, director general of Tourism in Dhofar governorate, said, 'The media campaigns organised over the years have led to an increase in the number of tourists coming to the governorate.The number of tourists this khareef season fromJune 21till August 11 reached 630,829 compared to 472,231 in the same period in 2017.'
Ameri said that in addition, work on infrastructural development for the tourism sector in the governorate too is under way. The number of resorts, hotels, hotel apartments, buildings and furnished apartments has also increased. The number of hotel establishments in the governorate reached 32 with 3,499 rooms. The number of hotel establishments with five-star ranking has reached five, which is expected to add 1,851 rooms by the end of this year. The rate of occupancy of hotel establishments during the month of July reached 60 per cent.
'As part of its efforts to promote the tourist season, the ministry invited famous Kuwaiti traveller Mohammed al Maimouni to visit Dhofar governorate between July 3 and August 6. He is the owner of the most popular tourist social media account in the Arab world 'Jawlat Haulal Aalam' (Travel around the World) with millions of followers. He is one of the most influential figures in the world of electronic marketing across all the platforms. Saudi traveller Mishal bin Majid, owner of the popular social media travel account also participated in the drive.'
Ameri said that preparations are under way, in cooperation with tourism partners, to launch promotional offers after the end of the Salalah Tourism Festival.He said, 'The Directorate General of Tourism inDhofar governorate wants to launch a marketing campaign to promote post-festival season for a period tillSeptember 21, 2018, when tourists' movement drops due to the beginning of academic year. This is the time when families stop visiting. For this period, talks with aviation companies, hotel establishments are under way to target those segments,
particularly newly-married couple to spend their first week in Salalah.
'Efforts are also being made in cooperation with local, regional and international organisations to use this period of the year to hold their conferences and meetings in Salalah city. A number of hotels and establishments have opened recently. They have halls, services and facilities which are required for the purpose.'
On the awareness programmes organised by MoT, Marwan bin Abdul Hakim al Ghassani, director of tourism promotions in the Directorate General of Tourism in Dhofar governorate, said, 'Prior to the beginning of the Khareef season, the directorate carried out tourism awareness programmes in partnership with the Directorate General of Education in Dhofar governorate under the title, 'Together with aware generations about tourism'.
The programmes include activities such as lectures in schools, awareness tours about the nature of the tour guide, cleaning campaigns and cultural competitions. A number of sanitisation campaigns were also carried out for a number of tourist sites under the slogan 'Our environment our responsibility'. This was as part of the preparations of receiving guests for the season in cooperation with an environmental company and other tourism partners.
Coinciding with the beginning of the khareef season, a tourist awareness campaign was launched, in cooperation with the Oman LNG Development Foundation, to spread messages and guidelines for the use of roads and taking caution during rains, fog and traffic rules and regulations. The campaign also focussed most importantly about protection of environment, green areas, public facilities and warnings of the dangers of swimming during khareef season. There is also intense awareness campaign during the peak time of the season. For the purpose, advertisement boards were set up at all vital points.
The Directorate General of Tourism in Dhofar governorate provided logistic support and coordinated in the national campaign for child safety to educate tourists about the importance of providing safe travel seats for children in vehicles. It also cooperated with the Ministry of Health in an education campaign titled. 'My tourism my health: Your health to enjoy your tour' at Salalah Airport to create awareness about safety and health.
About the sponsorship of the advertisement programmes, Ghassani said, 'Cooperation with Oman Radio was remarkable. The ministry supported popular radio programmeNasayem
which is being broadcast throughout the Salalah Tourism Festival from the venue of the festival Ittin ground. Awards were given to the participants. The programme provided all tourism information and details and had messages regarding the festival focusing on tourism activities.
The directorate also took care of maintenance of all the signboards which were affected by the climatic conditions in Dhofar governorate.
In addition to this, new signboards have been installed on theturning before the new road
leading to the Al Reneif cave area and the natural fountains and alsobefore the turning of the roadleading to Kur fountain. All this was done in coordination with the concerned authorities. Warning signs have also been put up related to the dangers of swimming during the khareef season near fountains and beaches.
Ghassani said, 'The ministry has updated and printed tourist maps of Dhofar for the year 2018. This is funded by Salalah Methanol Company for the third consecutive year. This is in continuation of the fruitful partnership between the two sides to promote and develop tourism sector in the governorate. The ministry wanted to provide basic services to tourists, such as temporary and permanent information centres at Salalah Airport, and corridors of the land routes, municipality entertainment centre at the headquarters of the Salalah Tourism Festival, Tourism Commercial Complex of the Salalah Gardens Mall.
'These centres provide information, assistance and guidance to tourists, and give them booklets and maps which has all details of hotels, hotel apartments, restaurants, markets, tourist and archaeological sites and fuel stations. These centres also accept suggestions and feedback of the visitors. The ministry has coordinated with universities and colleges to operate and train a number of researchers to work in these centres and give priority to students of various disciplines and those who have qualifications in tourism.'
He added, 'The ministry provided support and facilities to the owners of the campaign 'Salalah Prepares' aimed at taking photos of the tourist destinations after Cyclone Mekunu and taking reality to the social media. The campaign also covered social drive and cooperation between various organisations to clean debris and repairing works that occurred during cyclone before the tourism season. After that, the same team of 'Salalah Prepares' initiative carried out another marketing campaign as 'Sister of the Cloud' between July 12 and 15 to take the reality to those who wanted to visit the governorate and taking photos of the sites after the concerned authorities and people of the society did everything possible to prepare to receive the tourists.'
Ghassani said that the ministry also supported the initiative 'Khareef of Dhofar through Omani Lenses' betweenJuly 3 and 8. This initiative saw participation of a group of distinguished photographers of the sultanate. They included professional photographers from the Photographic Society of Oman. The initiative was for the promotion of tourism in the khareef season. This campaign was a huge success, and was largely welcomed. It reached the entire Gulf region through photographs, video clips and informative messages.
About tourism activities, Ghassani said, 'The ministry, in cooperation with the Salalah Gardens Mall, held Eid al Fitr celebrations for two days in the mall. These activities were both for children and adults.'
He added, 'Preparations are currently under way to carry out various activities during the holiday of Eid al Adha at Ittin ground. These activities include an exhibition for families, an exhibition for craftsmen to sell their handicrafts, short plays, folk dance, competitions for adults and children, cartoon characters and Omani traditional costumes.'
The directorate also participates in various activities organised by the authorities, such as summer camp for scouts by receiving participants and giving a visual presentation about the importance of the tourism sector. It also participates in development village exhibition with a tourism corner, delivering awareness lectures to participants of the youth camp in Dhofar governorate, providing logistic support to the organisations which carry out its activities during the season.
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