THE Sultanate of Oman expects to open over 2,000 resort and hotel rooms in 2013, with Muscat seeing the majority of growth with over 720 new rooms, said a report.
Some of the new hotel openings in 2013 will include the Fraser Place Sohar which is on track to open later this year and the Azaiba Hotel, Muscat, an $80 million five-star project that is expected to be operational by mid-2013, added the release by Oman Ministry of Tourism.
The Sultanate’s expanding hotel portfolio will soon include Four Seasons, Banyan Tree Hotels and Hotel Missoni in Muscat’s Jebel Sifah project.
Omran, a leading tourism-related development, hospitality management and investment company in Oman, has recently announced that it has passed the 60 per cent construction mark of its 2,000 m hilltop luxury project, the Alila Jabal Akhdar Resort, set to open its doors in December. The 110-room Khasab Hotel in Musandam is also set to open towards the end of 2013.
These developments are in addition to boutique hotels that opened in 2012 including the five-star Juweira Boutique Hotel, Salalah Beach, The View and Sahab Hotel in the Jebel Akhdar mountain range and the Jebel Sifah boutique hotel near Muscat.
Following the Sultanate’s sustainable tourism model, Omran recently completed the installation and furnishing of ten eco-friendly luxury tents at Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve.
The increase in accommodation availability also included the completion of an 800 m walkway that enables visitors to move from the reserve’s Scientific and Visitor Centre to the tents’ picturesque location.
The Duqm City Hotel is a 117-room business hotel equipped with comfortable rooms and business amenities and the four-star, 200-room Duqm Crowne Plaza are two other new hotels ideally located near the Duqm Rock Gardens.
Developments around the Sultanate include a 20-room and 12-villa Cheval Blanc Resort on Sodah Island with private beaches for each unit and a new Crowne Plaza in the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre precinct both due to be completed by the end of 2015.
The Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre, due for completion at the end of 2015, is set to become an iconic landmark for the Sultanate. Surrounded by nature it overlooks a wadi that is a haven for Oman’s exotic bird life.
The facility is suited to host international, regional and national conventions, exhibitions and business events.
Amongst its features will be a tiered auditorium seating 3,200 people and more than 22,000 sq m of exhibition space.