Muscat: Dhofar Municipality, in cooperation with government and private agencies, is working to revitalise a number of new tourist sites, improve facades, and implement a number of road projects in Dhofar Governorate in conjunction with the Dhofar Khareef season for the year 2024.
Dr. Ahmed bin Mohsen Al-Ghassani, Chairman of Dhofar Municipality, said: “The Dhofar Khareef season 2023 achieved great success in activating tourism, commercial activity and supporting other sectors, as the number of visitors to the season has reached about one million, recording an increase of 18.4 percent compared to 2022, while the volume of spending amounted to more than OMR100 million.
He added in a statement to Oman News Agency: “It is expected that the Dhofar Khareef season this year will witness a substantial rise in the number of visitors compared to the last season, with the volume of spending exceeding OMR115 million."
He explained that various new sites are currently being refurbished in Dhofar Governorate to become permanent tourist attractions, including “Return of the Past”, “Aten Square”, “Uptown” and “Razath Boulevard”, indicating that there is a plan to operate these sites in two phases.
The first phase according to the seasons for no less than 6 months, and the second phase includes rehabilitating some of these sites to operate for a longer period of the year.
Dr. Ahmed Al Ghassani confirmed that the government has invested in developing Dhofar Governorate in various fields, as the development process included improving the flow of traffic and implementing many road projects.
The approved value of projects exceeds OMR30 million for this year, in addition to two projects to drain rainwater, and many projects related to developing tourist sites and improving facades and other development projects.
He pointed out that there is an ambitious plan and approvals to implement many projects in Dhofar Governorate that will be announced during the coming period, most of which are related to strengthening the infrastructure and expanding road works in the various wilayats of the governorate and focusing on improving the rainwater drainage network and supporting the development of some youth projects and others.
He said: “As a result of the diligent work that Dhofar Governorate has been doing during the past two years, activities and events have been created after the autumn season, including the "Sarb" and "Winter" seasons, which have achieved great success and contributed to expanding the geographical scope of visitors to the governorate.”
He explained that most tourists during the summer come from various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, while during the "Sarb" season tourists come from some Arab countries such as: Egypt, Libya and Algeria, in addition to Asian countries such as China and others, while tourists come during the winter season from European countries, Eastern Europe and others.
The Chairman of Dhofar Municipality stressed that the features of commercial, economic and tourism activities in Dhofar Governorate have become prominent and the governorate is working on many visions and strategies that will stimulate growth in these sectors and open the way for small and medium enterprises, Omani youth and innovators and enhance investment in other commercial and economic sectors, whether related to the tourism sector or to the natural resources that characterise the governorate.
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