Salalah must consider the locals in Oman’s tourist push

Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Oman is hoping to attract one million tourists to its Salalah Khareef festival this year, thanks to heavy promotion and a new calendar of events.

This seasonal monsoon fiesta in Oman’s second largest city started last month and runs until September. It attracted about 720,000 visitors last year, up from 687,000 in 2022. 

To target one million visitors this autumn, the Salalah Municipality Office has increased local retail and entertainment centre offerings.

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It has doubled the size of its main children’s amusement park and expanded its Food Centre to include over 200 new international cafes and restaurants. 

Salalah’s International Festival Theatre will host singers and concerts from around the globe for the first time. The artists will perform in a new 5,000-seat auditorium.

The city’s renewed tourism drive comes as the number of visitors to Oman grew by 12 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to government data. Total revenues of three to five-star establishments in the period amounted to OMR71 million ($184 million). 

While Oman has many beauty spots, cooler weather sets southern Salalah apart. 

As the country seeks to develop tourism as part of a wider economic diversification drive, the sector’s contribution to GDP will hit OMR3.3 billion by the end of this year, accounting for nearly 8 percent of the economy.

The average temperature in the Gulf countries in the summer months is about 45 degrees, while Salalah in the south of the sultanate enjoys a relatively balmy 28 degrees. 

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Nearly 30 percent of Salalah’s visitors in the Khareef season – “autumn” or “fall” in Arabic – come from the five regional states of the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, while about 35 percent fly over from European countries. The remainder are domestic tourists.  

To make travelling easier within Salalah, the transport authorities have doubled the number of shuttle buses to local beauty spots. They’ve also granted domestic business people licences to open up mobile food stalls for tourists to take a break on their way towards the top sites.

There are concerns about whether the hospitality industry has capacity to cater for approximately 25 percent more visitors than last year

All these efforts are designed to entice more tourists and, ultimately, boost the businesses of retailers, food outlet owners and tour guides. 

The government hopes that more tourism will increase job opportunities for Omani nationals. In addition, it should deliver a new stream of value added tax into the government’s coffers.

However, there are concerns about whether the hospitality industry has capacity to cater for approximately 25 percent more visitors than last year. Salalah has about 150 registered hotels, but these are usually packed to the rafters during the Khareef season.

Given the scarcity of local rooms, it has been left to unregistered privately-owned apartment owners to absorb the surplus number of visitors. But as the season peaks, these apartments may not provide enough capacity for the increased numbers. 

Whether the plan works remains to be seen. By August, we will have a clearer picture of capacity constraints.

Ambitious targets

Salalah’s one million visitor target seems ambitious in a city with a population of less than 450,000. During the Khareef, the area has historically been swamped with visitors. 

With this in mind, Oman must take steps to protect its heritage and culture. If the one million mark is reached this year, the number of tourists may increase even more in the coming years.

The tourism influx may stir up resentment among locals and add strain to services, such as transport and even hotels.

Oman’s decision makers are tasked with managing a balancing act of keeping the tourism boom sustainable without compromising the standard of living of ordinary locals.

Saleh Al-Shaibany is a journalist and lecturer, and CEO of AlSafa Press & Publishing