MUSCAT: The Sultanate of Oman was among the top five regional destinations for foreign direct investment in the tourism sector during the period between 2018 and 2023, according to UN Tourism.
Oman followed the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar on the list. Nearly 70 percent of the capital investment was attracted by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.
The Sultanate of Oman saw 13 greenfield projects announced representing a capital investment of $1.83 billion, at an average of $141.1 million per project.
The FDI destinations in the country are Muscat with seven projects and Dhofar with three projects. The main investors in the Sultanate of Oman are the USA with three projects, China, UAE, Cyprus, and France.
In an exclusive interview with the Observer, Natalia Bayona, Executive Director, of UN Tourism, said, "When it comes to foreign direct investments, tourism investments in Oman are growing in the last five years. When it comes to the ranking of the Middle East, Oman is number five. So it's okay. At the end of the day, it is in the top five. The main investor in Oman was the USA, with $522 million, China with $348 million, the UAE $348 million, France and Cyprus with $174 million."
She added that there's a strong scope for cooperation. "I love what this region is doing. That's why we created a UN tourism regional office in Riyadh to serve all the region that is focussed on education, innovation, investments, and rural development.
But as well we are working from there. We are delivering courses, skills management, and innovation competitions to help all the members bring the best things that they have and of course to showcase them to the world. So cooperation is really important and key. Second of all, I see a lot of cooperation, for example, when it comes to investments, I see that there's a lot of public and private investments in all the region and sharing knowledge."
Natalia said that the Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar was one of the examples of regional cooperation. Yes, I think it's not just Qatar, the other countries also benefited. "That's a good one. Absolutely. I feel that the World Cup helped a lot to empower this region. And of course the numbers are there, not by mistake. Qatar has been growing by 90% in tourism. Yeah, that's part of their good job, and attracting good mega events as well to the region helps that when it comes not only to sports but also to business, and science so that the region is connected. So in that way, you can promote a better understanding."
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