New Market Study Published: Oman Tourism Report Q4 2012

Recently published research from Business Monitor International, "Oman Tourism Report Q4 2012", is now available at Fast Market Research

by Bill Thompson

(WireNews+Co) - Boston, MA - 24 October 2012

The Oman Tourism Report examines the significant long-term potential being offered by the local tourism industry, but flags short-term concerns surrounding the fact that Oman is currently served by significantly less direct flights than other Gulf tourist destinations, as well as the fact that the country still needs to invest to improve infrastructure and develop a wider range of tourism facilities.

The report also analyses the growth and risk management strategies being employed by some of the leading players in Oman's tourism sector (airlines and hotel chains), as they seek to maximise the growth opportunities being offered by the local market at the present time.

The Ministry of Tourism has released provisional tourist arrivals figures for 2011. These showed a slight decline of 1.8% in arrivals over the year to 1,427,611. In light of this slightly disappointing figure, BMI has revised down its forecast for tourist arrivals in 2012, believing that an increase of 10% is now the most likely outcome for the year, down from 15% previously. BMI's forecast is in line with the government's expectations for the industry.

View Full Report Details (http://www.fastmr.com/prod/456362_oman_tourism_report_q4_2012.aspx) (http://www.fastmr.com/prod/456362_oman_tourism_report_q4_2012.aspx)

After 2012, BMI remains optimistic about the outlook for the Omani tourism industry. The country is planning significant increases in the national room supply, to reach more than 20,000 rooms by 2015, while airport capacity is also set to treble at Muscat and Salalah. On the security side, although a potential increase in anti-government protests over the coming months could begin to put pressure on Oman's political risk profile, BMI's analysts expect the government would respond to growing demands for faster reforms by implementing further fiscal stimulus measures, such as wage hikes or promises of more public-sector employment.

Over the last quarter, BMI has revised the following forecasts and views:

- BMI has made alterations to tourist arrivals projections over the forecast period to 2016, in light of the provisional 2011 data released by the Ministry of Tourism. BMI forecasts a 10% increase in tourist arrivals in 2012 to 1.57mn.
- BMI has made alterations to the forecasts for the number of hotel rooms and beds available in Oman over the forecast period to 2016, in light of the data released by the Ministry of Tourism. BMI forecasts a total of 16,000 hotel rooms and 24,000 beds in Oman by the end of 2016.
- BMI believes Oman's ambitious goal of 12mn tourist arrivals by 2020 is positive for the sector, though we still caution that this figure may not be reached by the end of the decade based on current growth trends.

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