With a lavish new convention centre to open in 2016 and more than 10,500 hotel rooms to be available in Muscat by 2018, Oman is well placed to draw international attention as a major business events destination in the Arabian Peninsula.
Riding on the coat tails of a successful succession of increased tourism visitation – up 72% from Australia and New Zealand in 2011-12, 11% in 2012-13 and 10% in 2013-14, the emerging destination is just 5 hours drive from Dubai and now committed on making a mark in the business events scene.
“We often talk about Oman being the best-kept secret in Arabia. But clients keep telling us that Oman’s unique beauty, heritage and culture makes Oman the best-kept tourism secret on the planet, “ Sultanate of Oman, Ministry of Tourism, country manager Australia & New Zealand, Mona Tannous said at February’s AIME in Melbourne.
The Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC), set on track with a 2016 debut, and already focussed on numerous convention bids in the pipeline as far as 2021, venue manager AEG Ogden’s group manager convention sales development, Rochelle Uechtriz said.
Rather uniquely to the world, OCEC is being developed within a fully integrated convention precinct, supported by four hotels ranging from five-star to three-star totalling 1000 rooms, a shopping mall, commercial business park and only four kilometres from Muscat International Airport.
Built to host large and smaller scale conferences, exhibitions, meetings, weddings and special events, OCEC will also meet high “green” standards and classed as one of the first to be built to meet rigorous LEED certification by the U.S Green Building Council.
The Centre’s two-tiered auditoria will seat 3200 and 450, while exhibition halls will feature 22,000 square meters of column-free exhibition space, and combined 10,000 seated, theatre-style.
OCEC will also include 13-meeting rooms for 80-300 delegates, as well as two ballrooms to seat up to 2360 and 10 hospitality suites as well as a VIP Pavilion.
“We have been extremely fortunate to have appointed several highly skilled Omani professionals and are working towards recruiting and training a workforce of more of than 160 full-time staff by the end of 2015, of which 60% will be Omanis,” Uechtriz said.
