Oman

RO15 million tourism award for governorates

The results of the competition will be announced in 2025.
 
The results of the competition will be announced in 2025.
To support tourism, economic diversification and create more jobs for Omanis, the Ministry of Economy launched a RO15 million award for governorates submitting best tourism projects to promote springs, wadis, and ancient neighbourhoods.

He added that one of the objectives of the competition is to stimulate economic potential and enhance competitiveness within the governorate.

Dr Nasser bin Rashid al Maawali, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, said that this initiative is part of an ambitious phase of transformations of the economy of Oman to enhance development and achieve balanced growth in all the governorates.

He said the initiative will create competition among governorates for tourism projects and develop the tourism sector by wooing investors in the competitive mechanism of each governorate. It will also help in improving tourist destinations.

He added that one of the objectives of the initiative is to enhance economic diversification efforts and local content, provide job opportunities for Omanis that stimulate economic potential and enhance competitiveness within the governorate.

The governorates have to submit their projects so that the best is selected through a technical committee based on specific criteria in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, and the award may be given to one or more governorates.

He indicated that applications for the award will begin this year and the results will be announced in 2025.

The under-secretary stressed that these projects will contribute to increasing the number of local visitors or from outside the Sultanate of Oman, which will increase the contribution of the tourism sector to the gross domestic product, boost local communities, and develop small and medium enterprises.