Omanventure

Take domestic tourism seriously. Any country that is hoping on significant GDP contribution of tourism should take this advise. In the challenging quest of attracting international visitors and banking on their spending inflow, it is easy to forget about the potential of domestic demand. This segment might not be as valuable in terms of current account contribution but it is crucial in terms of stability and sustainability of the tourism of a country. We have seen what a 9/11 or a SARS-like crisis can do for destinations relying only on international travellers (typically remote or island destinations). Those who had a solid domestic demand (e.g. Germany, France) managed to live through these much easier.

So Oman should not forget about its few hundred thousand of regular regional travelers and should perhaps focus on extracting value by offering ever more experience. There are several ways of doing this but one that recently came to my mind is the creation of a domestic tourism program, say "Omanventure".

The idea would be to set up a high number of domestic trips (from Salala and the Empty Quarter all the way up to Musandam) grouped, categorized and described in a cool website and booklet.  Each category of trip would have more concrete routes described, graded and ranked.  We could have a "wadi wanderer" a "wild off-roader" or a "family off-roader" a "nomad camper" category with 5-8 trips under each. So far not much special, quite a few books have already done this.

The essence of this program would be to actually take the whole thing online, associate a tick-list to all of these trips and to record the fact that one has done it. An online point and status system can be created (can eventually run under facebook or own site depending on resources).  Each set of trips can have a minimum of 5-6 routes to complete before you can earn that particular status of say a "coastal cruiser" or if you have a boat you can potentially become a "sealife spotter" etc.  Of course all of this can also apply to divers and come up with say “shark whisperer” or other.

Reporting completion can be done like in geotracking or on birder (bird watching) sites, namely on a self declared basis.  If someone have completed all of the given types and track can claim the "Omanventurer" status. Time limits of retaining this can also be set. etc. etc. It would also be a good way for tourism planners to track the popularity of domestic destinations and enhance the thematic nature of regions and attractions. 

Now besides the fun where's the deal? I sense in a few points, like certain regions can start promoting themselves on this platform, can set up little gift shops, coffee shop with name of track, eventually small visitor centre and benefit from the fact that those coming to their village region would most likely check this site before.

I have not fully elaborated on the idea but I feel there could be quite some potential in this. Retailers, car maker etc. can all hook up to the opportunity and created domestic marketing for the great regions of Oman. What do you think?