As we end 2023, the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre is celebrating another successful year marked by 230 events including 19 international. This is a testament to the venue’s attractiveness both regionally and internationally.
In the past 12 months, Oman’s premier venue welcomed over 1.5 million visitors across all of its events including conferences, conventions, exhibitions, live shows and corporate meetings. An international destination, over 90 nationalities visited the OCEC in 2023, some discovering Oman for the first time as delegates and returning later as leisure travelers.
The OCEC estimates a +62% rise compared to 2022 visits, a figure explained by a post-Covid rebound along with rising interest in Oman as a business events destination. The venue’s competitiveness and visibility regionally was rewarded by the coveted Best Venue award at the Middle East Events Awards 2023.
As Oman’s premier venue, the OCEC organised and hosted a total of 149 local events, supporting over 90 local SMEs along the way. An inclusive venue, the 2023 programme catered for a wide range of audiences with flagship events such as Muscat Art, the centre’s annual art fair event. Among such audience is the Omani youth who have invested the venue throughout the year for local events and graduations, with an average 17000 students graduating at the OCEC this year.
Speaking to the Observer, Eng Said al Shanfari, CEO of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre explained this year’s success:
“The year 2023 was an exciting year as far as events are concerned as we have been constantly attracting both international and high-profile events to the country thanks to our state-of-the-art facilities. Hosting events in our homeland has a multitude of benefits in terms of both tourism enrichment and contribution to the GDP of the country. Based on our independent research, we know our efforts to attract international events support Oman’s visibility internationally, channelling foreign investments and contributing to our overall economic growth.” Al Shanfari said.
Al Shanfari expressed his confidence in attracting more Omani youth to the event sector. In a recent evening discussion at the Youth Center, Al Shanfari took the time to dialogue with the Omani youth on the subject of leadership and business events tourism. The event itself served as an inspiration for the CEO to better cater for Omani youth through a diverse programme of events in 2024. This is aligned with the OCEC’s aim to attract younger generations to work in the tourism sector, in accordance with Oman Tourism Strategy. As part of its overall employment strategy, the OCEC is planning to welcome 40 interns in 2024, a 100 per cent rise from last year’s number.
Marching forward, with more than 1.5 million square metres for exhibition space, an equivalent to 200 football pitches and 1,700 square metres of LED screen, an equivalent to 9 tennis courts, Al Shanfari said that OCEC would be hosting a plethora of international, regional and local events to the Oman soil aiming at fairing in terms of visibility, number of visitors and in terms of contribution to the national GDP.
“We are already gearing up for our 2024 calendar, expecting to surpass 2023 figures with a high number of international and regional events coming to the country,” adds Al Shanfari.
Some of the events to which oman will play host in 2024 include:
1. Middle East Space Conference (January 08-10)
2. General Arab Insurance Federation General Conference (February 18-21)
3. International Book fair & Moonlight festival (February 22 - March 02)
4. OPES (April 22-24)
5. Oman Sustainability Week (April 28 – May 02)
6. Oman Perfume Show (June 04-08)
7. RCOG World Congress 2024 (October 15-17)
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