Oman tourism: Chartered flights from Europe to strengthen tourist inflow to Salalah

Salalah: Oman plans to enhance number of chartered flights from several destinations, especially from Europe, to strengthen flow of international tourists to Salalah.
Muriya Tourism Development Co, which completed 700 rooms as part of first phase of its flagship destination in Salalah, is set to negotiate with overseas tour operators to raise number of chartered flights to Salalah to 8 and thereafter to 10 from six per week at the moment. These flights will be able to carry 2,000 tourists per week to Dhofar.
Abdelhamid Abouyousef, chief hotels officer, Orascom Development (which owns 70 per cent in Muriya Tourism Development), said that tourists from Germany, Italy, Poland and Slovakia are coming by chartered flights now. “We are now discussing with Baltic nations. We want to resume Scandinavian flights as well. Since we have only 700 rooms, we have to conduct a bid among tour operators to see who will pay more,” added Abouyousef. Charted flights started operation to Salalah from various European destinations in 2005.
“We have about $200-$300 million aviation risk in Salalah every year. The tour operators are paying for it,” he further added, noting the cost of operating chartered flight to Oman.
Abouyousef also said that his company is discussing with Saudia to start operation between Riyadh and Salalah to bring more tourists from Saudi Arabia.
The recent opening of the state-of-the-art airport in Salalah also helps starting additional flights from several destinations.
Referring to the recent fall in oil prices, Abouyousef said; “This actually works in our favour and not against us. Aviation cost is almost 50 per cent of total tour package cost. And a big portion goes to fuel – almost 20-25 per cent of total cost. This makes the tour packages more attractive now.”
Ahmed Dabbous, chief executive officer of Muriya Tourism Development Company, said that unlike other hotel projects, Muriya is developing new cities in Salalah and Jebel Shifa near Muscat– two major resorts of the company. “We are building small towns.”
Salalah offers many attractions for European tourists, which include clean beaches, mountains and desert tours.
Addressing the media, Khalid al Rawas, director general of tourism in Dhofar, said that the contribution of tourism sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Oman is 3 per cent now, which is expected to go up to 4 per cent within few years. The contribution of tourism in GDP is low mainly due to the fact that oil revenue contribution is too high.