Oman in World Travel Market London

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- The Ministry of Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman, along with 24 tourism establishments of the country, will take part in the World Travel Market (WTM), one of the biggest international events of the travel industry, beginning in London on November 5, 2018.

The Omani delegation will be headed by HE Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrizi, Minister of Tourism. The three-day event, which would conclude on November 7, is second largest exhibition of travel and tourism industry of the world. The Ministry of Tourism and other tourism establishments of the country are participating in the event to promote and aggressively market Omani tourism products.

The Sultanate is participating in this global tourism event to open wider horizons for marketing of its tourism destinations and services. This would also give it an opportunity to learn from experiences of various other participating countries and international tourism organisations. It would also help it understanding where the world tourism industry has reached in development and what are the prominent offers and promotional campaigns. This event is expected to give an opportunity to the Omani participates to build relationships and find opportunities for direct cooperation between various Omani tourism establishments and their international counterparts. This would help in attracting investments in Omani tourism sector which is constantly growing and opening promising opportunities.

Ahmed Al Mahrizi, Minister of Tourism and head of the Sultanate's delegation said: "The Sultanate wants to participate in the World Travel Market London every year as it is the second largest tourism fair in the world. Various organizations, entities, institutions, establishments, decision makers, government officials, major entrepreneurs and investors participate in this event. "

Contrary to the large halls and pavilions dedicated to participating countries, the World Travel Market London is known for its qualities as it becomes destination of world's top officials, investors and experts of travel and tourism, hospitality, aviation and tourism media. This event discusses major subjects including latest developments in the sector and focusses on issues being faced by responsible and sustainable tourism and its modern technologies as well as objectives of World Tourism Organization.

The number of tourists who visited the Sultanate from the British market in 2016, were 137,170. Their number reached to 143,224 in 2017 which is a growth 4.4% over previous year. The number of British tourists who visited Oman till the end of September in 2018 has already reached to 114,006.

Ahmed Al Mahrizi said that the growing number of tourists coming to the Sultanate from the United Kingdom was encouraging the promotion of the Omani tourism products, projects and facilities and new services. It will help in maintaining sustainable growth of the number of tourists coming to the Sultanate from one of the most important international tourism markets we are targeting. This global forum will give an opportunity to the institutions of the Omani tourism sector to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments and trends of the markets and the requirements of tourists. It will also help them introduce latest products, projects and facilities provided to tourists who are coming to Oman from different countries, like opening of new Muscat International Airport, hotel establishments and electronic visa facilities. This would attract tourists to the Sultanate throughout the year.

Al Mahrizi said that the ministry, as part of Omani strategy for tourism and related promotional plans, has carried out studies for a number of targeted tourism markets, in cooperation with specialized international institutions. In the light of the outcome of these studies, it has developed mechanisms of entering into these markets and ascertained what the tourists of each of these markets require. The ministry is focussing on diversity of promotional methods using various platforms, events, websites and modern communication technologies.

He appreciated that the establishments and institutions of the tourism sector of Oman have shown their enthusiasm in participating in such a major international tourism event. It shows that there was effective partnership between public and private sectors of tourism in the country. These establishments understood the importance of promotion of their tourism services, products and offers by their own presence in the world markets and their own direct interaction with their international counterparts. It will strengthen their role in the sector.

The pavilion of the Sultanate of Oman will have 24 tourism companies and establishments operating in the Oman. Two of these companies are supported by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SME. They are Al Zahabia Tourism and Al Furat Travel and Tourism. Muscat Municipality will also be present their to promote Muscat Festival 2019 and Tour of Oman.(ENDS)

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