No new hotel permits for Muscat city area: MHT

Muscat: The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) has announced regulations for establishing new hotel establishments from February 1 to address the issue of imbalance in the distribution of hotels across the country.

The ministry will not accept any requests for new hotel activities in the Muscat Governorate, except for the wilayats of Quriyat and Al Amerat, while in Dhofar, it will stop accepting requests for regular hotel apartments in Salalah.

MTH said all establishments should follow the classification and quality standards that are specified in the Tourism Law, aimed at regulating hotel and tourist establishments.

Approvals for the establishment of new hotel facilities will be issued according to the project location in the permitted as per new directives.

Details for the rest of the governorates are as follows:

Al Wusta: No new requests for one and two-star hotels and rest houses in the wilayats of Mahut, Haima, and Duqm.

Al Dhakiliyah: No new requests for regular hotel apartments, rest houses, one- and two-star hotels, and rest houses in all wilayats of the governorate.

Al Dhahirah: No new requests for one and two-star hotels rest houses in the city center in the Wilayat of Ibri, and guest houses in the city center in the Wilayat of Ibri.

Al Buraimi: No new requests for guest houses, except for the Wialayat of Sunaynah.

Musandam: No new requests for one-star hotels, rest houses, and guest houses in the state of Khasab.

North al Batinah: No new requests for one and two-star hotels, rest houses, regular hotel apartments, and hospitality hostels in all wilayats of the governorate.

South al Batinah: Stopping hospitality hostels in the states of Barka and al Musannah, and camps in all wilayats except in the wilayat of Nakhal.

North al Sharqiyah: Stopping one- and two-star hotels, rest houses, and regular hotel apartments in the wilayat of Ibra.

South al Sharqiyah: Stopping guest houses, regular hotel apartments, and two-star hotels in the Wilayat of Sur, and one-star hotels and rest houses in all wialayat of Jaalan Bani Bu Ali.

Permissions

New hotel projects in Muscat Governoate will be limited (all categories and classifications) to Quriyat and Al Amerat only.

It may be noted hotel revenues of 3-5 star hotels in the Sultanate of Oman had increased by the end of November 2023 to RO204.18 million from 161.26 million during the same period in November 2022.

The number of hotel guests increased by 30.3 percent to 1,883,993 at the end of November 2023 from 1,446,189 guests in 2022.