Saudi Arabia, Oman eye hospitality sector boost

At a panel session titled "Infrastructure Development: The Backbone of Hospitality Growth" on Sept 17, Shabib Al Maamari, managing director of Visit Oman, discussed the importance of investment in infrastructure for tourism, highlighting initiatives in Oman and the role of digital solutions.

He emphasized the need for responsible and sustainable tourism, job creation, and attracting inbound tourism through infrastructure development.

Al Maamari talked about government initiatives that support infrastructure, specifically in the sector of tourism, transportation, airport, road, ports and how those elements are enablers for tourism, as well as the importance also of connecting digital solutions to existing infrastructures.

"The example I've used relates to something in our region that's called ITCs, integrated tourism complexes. And these ITCs are initiatives created by the government in partnership with the private sector locally, and an invitation to global, international and regional investors and real estate to operate these ITCs," said Al Maamari.

"The elements that go inside ITCs are hospitality element, and then real estate, houses, apartments and commercial buildings that include offices and retail. And the concept is to kickstart and speed up the development of urban areas where people can choose to buy, to live or buy," he added.

The policy has been "very successful" and attracted a lot of attention, as it allows foreign nationals and families to buy property in Oman and quickly get residency in the country, while ensuring freedom of movement in and out of the country.

In terms of the digital aspect that they started in Oman, they noticed the rise of Airbnb short stays.

He said instead of "resisting" Airbnb, they started embracing it. The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism is in charge of short stays and started to look at regulations, best practices, policies that can support the overall economy, support investors and buyers of apartments or houses.

"We introduced the concept of having a platform that would aggregate, distribute, at scale," said Al Maamari, adding that this "quality marriage between hard infrastructure and digital software is something very interesting to a lot of people".

"We've talked about also job creation, attracting more inbound tourism, having responsible and sustainable tourists and the impact of infrastructure in attracting those two to Oman. We are not into mass tourism. We want the right kind and the right (number) of tourists to come to the country to enjoy our beautiful country. But we need also the right kind of offering to do that," said Al Maamari.

Xu Weiwei in Hong Kong contributed to this story.