Oman gets recognition as a safe destination for international visitors

Scoring highly for its economic performance in the recently released World Economic Forum (WEF) report for 2017, the Sultanate of Oman is gaining increasing recognition significant tourism categories.

Rank among the 10 safest economies globally, with little terrorism incidence, the country scores high on the WEF’s 1 to 7 ranking for its business environment (5.2), safety and security (6.5), health and hygiene (5.4), price competitiveness (5.5), ICT readiness (5.1) and human resources and labour market (4.1).

The report notes large discrepancies across the Middle East and North Africa region.

For example, while some countries rank low on security indicators, countries such as Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar rank among the 10 safest economies globally, there are stark differences with other countries in the region.

Starting from different levels, Bahrain, Iran, Morocco and Algeria have all improved their security significantly, while Saudi Arabia has registered the largest regional improvement in health and hygiene.

Oman scores only 1.9 (on the scale of 1-7) in terms of availability of entertainment facilities and conferences. However, this score looks set to change with the opening of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre at the end of last year and the opening of the new Muscat International Airport in the next 18 months.

The report says international arrivals to Middle East continue to grow, reaching 72 million in 2015, compared to 68 million in 2013 and 62 million in 2011, when the region experienced its biggest drop in tourist arrivals. Better ICT infrastructure, lower prices, improvements in international openness and some progress in nurturing cultural heritage have created better conditions to develop the tourism sector overall, with the report stating “sStill, natural and cultural resources remain mostly underexploited and international openness is still limited.

“To date, security perceptions remain the biggest hurdle for the (tourism) sector, preventing the region to achieve stronger growth.”

Perceptions related to terrorism have worsened for at least half of the countries in 2017 compared with two years ago, with the notable exceptions of Lebanon and Egypt, where perceptions have improved but still remain poor. 

Image: Oman's Wadi Bani Awf.

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