MUSCAT, JAN 8
The meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector — a key pillar of the Sultanate of Oman's vital tourism industry — has reported strong growth in 2022 in line with the objectives of the Oman Tourism 2040 Strategy.
The Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC), the primary hub of the country's business tourism sector, hosted as many as 215 MICE events during 2022, drawing more than 1.2 million visitors — local and international — during the year. As Oman's premier meetings and conferences venue, OCEC played host to a number of world-class events ranging from fan zones to science, technology, construction, agricultural produces and fashion shows during the year.
Notable events include a special fan zone football fans for the duration of the World Cup Qatar 2022, the Green Hydrogen Summit and Exhibition (December 5-7), the Muscat International Jewellery Exhibition (December 1-5), the 89th UFI Global Congress (November 14-17), Oman Maritime Confex (October 24-27), the Food and Hospitality Oman and the Oman Health Exhibition and Conference (September 26-28) and many more.
Of the 215 events that OCEC hosted in 2022, 6 were regional events, 10 international events, 17 graduation ceremonies with more than 17,000 graduates, 28 exhibitions and 185 institutional events.
With more than 300 volunteers and 20 internship programmes, holding such numerous events is not an easy task for OCEC which used 1.5 million square metres for exhibition space — an equivalent to 200 football pitches and installed 1,700 square metres of LED screen — an equivalent to 9 tennis courts.
In a post, OCEC said that more than 120,000 meals were served for these events. In association with Oman Food Bank, OCEC said that no food were wasted for the events.
In a similar post, OCEC forecasted about 50 events to be held in Q4 2022, with about 300,000 visitors. Surprisingly, 70 events were held in the Q4 with more than 500,000 visitors of which 10,000 were international delegates. Among the events include 46 corporate functions, 10 exhibitions, 7 live events, 4 graduation and 3 conventions.
With more than 10,000 international delegates who attended events at OCEC during Q4 2022, staying an average of 5.5 days in Oman and spending around RO 169.4/day, OCEC said that the estimated national impact from business travellers to OCEC during the Q4 2022 is more than RO 9.31 million.
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