Sea Soul Water Park Muscat

Don’t get too excited, there is no park in the city by this name. Let alone water park. It's just a working title for some thoughts around the idea of a water park concept for Muscat. Let’s give it a run.

The bigger picture

A Water Park is an obvious leisure attraction for a city with subtropical climate like Muscat. They are highly capital intensive, with operational costs that leave little room for decent returns for an owner. Given their ability to attract high volume of visitors they tend to enhance land value around them. Often they can be catalysts of urban regeneration projects along with a number of other sports and leisure facilities. In this region they are either part of resorts or are placed in an accessible but green-field context to create the desired land upside.

The water parks are part of the wider amusement/theme park industry which is one of the fastest growing within the leisure industries. On a global comparison Asia (with South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, China, Japan, UAE) is set to a double digit annual growth in their water park visitation, swiftly catching up with the Americas, yet market leader in this segment (with US and Brazil).

In terms of visitation, the largest water park in the world (Typhoon Lagoonin Disney World Orlando, FL) has just over 2 million visitors annually (2.1 million in 2012). The second largest is in China (Chimelong Waterpark) with 2 million visitors albeit recording 6% growth year on year, while Orlando is growing at a much lower rate.

Closer to us, The Aquaventure at the Atlantis The Palm Dubai is the 7^th largest in the world with 1.3 million annual visitors growing at 8% while the Wild Wadi WaterPark Dubai is the 17^th with 850,000 annual visitors in 2012. The Wild Wadi has lost market share to Aquaventure in the recent years. To put this in context, the top 25 water parks in the world attract a combined annual attendance of over 25 million visitors.

Context for Muscat

The largest water parks are located in areas with high population density (Brazil, Japan, Korea) and/or destinations with very strong year round tourism demand (Orlando, Dubai).

Muscat cannot really stand out on any of the above and this should determine the fundamentals of any water park concept planned to be sustainable and viable.

Most mega parks are focused on the thrill with all the same scary and wet rides. The answer of Muscat to the water park question should obviously be something better suited for a local market of 6-800,000 population and total annual tourist arrivals of 2.5 million. Affordability, uniqueness, a local touch through creative originality would be key in my view, as opposed to the conventional wow factor.

In terms of the style of the attraction mix, a balanced combination of thrill, skill and chill, is what would give an optimal mix as opposed to a thrill only focus.

• Thrill – the classic wet slide rides built on speed, gravity, freefall, and a wet and safe landing. These are often combined with some themed context (Posseidon’s castle, marine world etc.). You will find these on all water parks, as being at the very heart of the concept.

• Skill  - Rides, tracks and skill based challenges that puts all age groups at various tests. Flash flooded rope tracks, floating islets, balancing bridges, spinning logs, slippery steps etc. (an easier verios of the Wipe-Out like giant pool toys). All designed to safely put at test your concentrations and physical abilities. The worst it can happen that you plunge in the water and start over again. There are few water parks that feature such attractions. They are more labour intensive to supervise and they cater more for those looking to challenges themselves, which is not always the case with holidaymakers.

• Chill – this is the part which is missing the most from all these mega parks. By definition they are land of adventure and adrenaline, chilling out is not their strong suit. However I think there is a strong need, especially on the mid-eastern markets, to offer an alternative for those who are happy to be there with the family but nor really looking for the action. They prefer more to have a coffee with a cupcake and wind down over a book or their ipad. Terraces with outdoors bar tables, small gardens with shaded and sunny decks, lots of greenery some sandy areas and water views around. More importantly away from the screams and splashing sounds of the thrill and the skill. Not a big deal but can make a big difference.

A third and loosely related element would be the educative one (edutainment). Including it strictly in the core concept of the park would probably not be ideal, however to create an interactive marine life museum and visitor center next door, would definitely be a good combination. The marine life museum at the Bandar Rowda marina are well outdated and quite tired.

This also give the main character of the park which is my view should be the sea and the marine environment.

Ideas

Now let’s see what would be some ideas worth considering or discarding for a potential park. In no particular order or alignment to target segments I thought of:

• The Tide – “wet lounge” part of the chill mix. It would be a lounge with a shallow pool as the floor area, where water level can be set from dry to ankle high of knee high. Some short distance wooden piers facilitate access to various areas.
• The Robinson Crusoe Island – only the best survive the challenges of this island. A series of water based and areal tracks, rides, cable slides, floating bridges, spinning logs and flash flooded tunnels. Every age group can test its skills and stamina at various levels.
• The Tsunami – a surf pool with a variety of wave surfing, body surfing or paddle boarding activities. If space allows a shorter wakeboard cable track would add a unique and popular feature.
• The Kids Beach Club – an indoor and outdoor kids only area with animated activities and programs, linked with the neighboring Marine World visitor centre.
• The Swamp – this would be a combination of mazes, rides and water attractions that are more on the exciting and mysterious end of the spectrum than on the fast and furious type rides.  A number of animated challenge  games could also be included (the Fort Boyard syle or Pirates themes games)
• The Cave – a major indoor facility that can run year round and offer a selection of slides (perhaps in an octopus design) and other smaller scale attractions.
• The Bay – who said it’s all about adrenaline? Away from the noise of the thrill rides, this hideaway offers the piece and the chill you need between two sessions of fun or can be your wind down escape while the rest of the family plunges into action.
• The Reef – a marine life encounter area, perhaps part of the Marine World visitor centre or separate. It offers the chance to see live marine life and learn about the marine habitat of the Arabian Sea.

These are few concepts that could be fresh and unique in the world of aqua parks. However coming up with the a right and sustainable concept for water park for Muscat is not an easy tasks and will require thorough work and hundreds of hours of research and creative work. The aim for me would be a delicate balance between the optimal size of creating the critical mass without overspending and/or planning with an excessive operating costs. The balance between the indoor and outdoor functions will also be key.

I am really excited to see how this is going to evolve.

2013 Challenge Tour at Almouj: The challenge remains

The National Bank of Oman Classic golf tournament, part of European Tours’ Challenge Tour was a great debut for Muscat on the international golfing scene.

While the organization of the tournament itself seemed very smooth and professional, there was a whole lot that could have been done for the crowd.

People of Oman are not used to golfing events and their relative charm, so this was a great opportunity to showcase some of it and attract more and more people to the game.

Having visited the event on Saturday I had the impression that the organizers fell very short on this front.

The so called Public Village set up for some sort of “golfing” entertainment was an empty square battered by the sun most of the day with very few people around. I don’t blame them, trying out a worn mini golf putting green or hitting a few irons shots in a net, is not exactly something you bare the afternoon sun for more than few minutes.  The kids area was practically two inflatable slides and air castles in dark in color and got so hot by mid day that you could easily prepare your morning omelets on it. Needless to say the kids preferred to stay away. Somewhat disappointed by the public village, we headed back to the clubhouse to have a drink and collect some strength to watch another hole with one of the favorites (Im). Well, the plan remained a plan, the clubhouse restaurant was reserved for VIPs and players, and two smiley gatekeepers sent us back to the public village furnace.

I think some more attention to detail and a focus on the visitors could have made the event a true success not just on the sporting and tournament but also on the entertainment and public event side. Since NBO was generous enough to sponsor it as a free access event, assumable with the intention to promote the game locally, it was a great chance that in all fairness this time was missed.

Perhaps next time, among much more there will be:

• A proper covered space for the non-VIP visitors as well. The Wicked tents sponsored a huge VIP tent in front of the 18^th hole which was 80% empty most of the time. Perhaps they will consider seeing up one for the participants with families who came out curiously to experience this thing apparently so popular with Europeans and South Africans.
• Facilitated visits to a number of easily accessible holes, with a dynamic and engaging “guide” explaining what’s going one, the rules, the goals of the game etc.
• Animated activities in the Public Village with stuff like: “Fix one thing” - golf clinic, “Your first 15 minutes of golf” – for newcomers, “Why we love golf” - for kids etc. all done by people who are good with people
• Competitions: Hole in one mini golf competition – to engage, waffle draw – to keep people around, Small food court – to keep stomach happy etc.

Again none of these require more fancy equipment or much higher costs, just a bit more creativity and engagement.  Organizers need to acknowledge that this climate is different and if you want to popularize this game you need to adapt to it.

Congrats for the organizers of the tournament and all payers, especially for Roope Kakko for winning the event. Hope the local touch and more engagement of a future golfing crowd will be achieved next time.

(picture source: European Tour site)

How hot is the Omani hot?

Oman is clearly a highly seasonal destination. Most hoteliers would consider May, June, July and August the worst to overcome and then November, December, January and February being the months to milk for the austerity of the summer.

We are not alone with this pain; most of the region is struggling with the same problem. In fact there are very few destinations equally strong year round, at least when it comes to leisure demand.  Some mountain destinations can achieve that combining winter sports (skiing, snowboarding etc.) with summer outdoor activities (tracking, hiking, mountain biking etc.).  In terms of offering a consistently nice weather throughout the year, very few destinations have the luxury like the Caribbean has.

So what are the obvious practices for extending the hotel / tourism season in Oman?  Gradually increasing discounts, the +1 packages (nights for free or additional person for free, or kids for free).  The special targeted offers and packages like detox or diet packages, body and mind programs that place the draw card from the weather and the outdoors into the indoors and the program that is offered.

But it would be too easy to say that by applying these we have done everything. In fact the one and only main negative perception that any attraction/destination in Oman has to fight is the “unbearable, unpleasant” weather.  And that is something the country promotion could support.  After having lived here for a few years, I am not saying summer is pleasant (although this year so far was quite generous), but I think the MidEast including Oman, had the misfortune of being stigmatized with an underrated weather. Probably working to soften  this stereotype will not result in people showing up in Oman in the middle of August, but could refine a bit their attitude. Just think of when you have a chat over the phone with anybody from Europe of North America, it is almost a rule that they will express some compassion for you bearing that “extraordinary heat”.  In reality many other touristy areas are almost comparably hot to Oman, but people rarely think of them as such.

Let’s have a look of a quick weather benchmark for today (June 10, 2013):

• Muscat: 30 (feels like: 38), Clear and humid
• India, Goa:  28 (33), Rain and mist
• Pukhet, Thailand: 30 (36), Light Rain
• Seychelles: 27 (31), Sunny
• Maldives: 31, (44), Partly cloudy
• Colombi, Sri Lanka: 31 (39), Partly sunny
• Caribbean (the Bahamas, Georgetown): 29 (35), Sunny to partly cloudy
• Hawai, Honolulu: 31, (31) Partly cloudy

Souce: AccuWeather

Wow, it is not as bad as I instantly thought.  If I was to priorities country marketing money, probably I would not fight frontally the perception of the country being a furnaces. What I could certainly consider though, is loading an app on the Oman tourism website which benchmarks the Omani weather (maybe the one in Muscat and the one on Jebel Ahkdar or Jebel Shams) against the usual suspects of mainstream overseas leisure (sun and sea) destinations.

Most popular Omani blogs

It's been a while since I posted. No excuses, just travel, work and lack of inspiration.

A fellow blogger and social media professional (if there is such a term) Maurizio, who is running the Omani Collective Intelligence blog on social media and PR issues in Oman, has recently posted an updated ranking of Omani blogs.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Omanly qualifying as 19th on the list of 46. Given that I usually cover a rather narrow set of topics and my posting intensity is more or less in line with the pace of life in the Sultanate, I am proud of this result.

Thanks all of you for your interest. In case you work in a tourism related area and find anything  relevant inhere, and more over, you perhaps can even use it in your work, well then I have certainly achieved my goal.

The season is soon over, with a bit of well deserved rest to come for everybody. Once this is done, let's shake up the brain cells and come up with fresh new things to make this country excel in originality and appeal of its tourism offering.

Making the most out of cruisers

We are well into the cruise ship tourist season. In case you take a walk on the Mutrah Cornish practically any time between 9am and 4pm you'll most probably meet holidaymakers anchored in Muscat for the day.

Hotel operators and owners don’t really like cruise liners as they are huge  floating hotels that don’t bring any value guests for them. With quite a few of  these ships having around 1000 cabins (some have 1500) they typically carry between 1000 and 2500 passengers.  No wonder retailers and museums have a different take on this than local hoteliers. The volume these cruise liners create for them can amount up to hundreds of additional clients/guests per day. In 2011 these floating villages have disembarked close to 250,000 visitors in Oman.

Due to their very short length of stay and the fact that they are fully served on the ships, it is very difficult for any destination to squeeze value out of this transient traffic.

But due to their shier size the industry should focus more in finding ways to cater for these guests. Here are a few ideas:

• Visitor center for the Al Alam palace and Mirani Fort: there are practically hundreds of visitors daily walking around the palace and its parade square without the opportunity to get any insight into this impressive attraction. While recognizing that public access (even if limited) might not be an option, a visitor center perhaps presenting the story of the Royal Family and the development of the modern Oman would be something relevant.
• Rethinking of the food and retail offering of Mutrah Cornish and Souk.  Like I said before, there is a lot more that can be done in that front, especially in terms of Omani cuisine.
• SQ Port area regeneration: to my knowledge a comprehensive re-conceptualization of the port is under way with various versions of a new master plans exiting. It is still unknown (at least to the public) when this is going to materialize. A truly leisure centric regeneration concept with restaurants, cafes, fish market and carefully selected retail outlets (not to jeopardize the offering of the Mutrah Souk) could open up more the purses of these travelers.
• “Truly Arabian show” – a dance and musical hour show around a regional legend or similar topic, focused on artistically showcasing parts of the Arabian culture or history. It could be performed late afternoons at a suitably converted location in Mutrah area
• Lastly a crazier one: cable car to a panoramic viewpoint in Muscat. Could be coupled with a restaurant as well. Using up the natural assets of the city and its surroundings, this feature would be a unique feature in the region.

Even if these attractions would not always yield a high return on investment, the impression given to these short stay visitors would convert them into international advocates of Muscat as a must see destination. I would not underrate that.

Photo: Sebastian Abbot/The Associated Press

Non-existing hotel sold?

I read in Oman Observer last week that Garden Hotel in Dhofar region was sold for an amount that is quite decent in hotel value terms (RO 10 million).

On one hand such transactions are reassuring that there are encouraging prospects on the hotel market on the other hand it left me a bit puzzled as I had no previous knowledge of a Garden Hotel in Oman. I though it's just my lack of knowledge. Quickly searched around but still found nothing.   So it's quite a lot of money for a hotel that is nowhere to be found, I thought.  Then saw some raised eyebrows on twitter from others following Omani press as well, they also had no clue what this could be.

There must be something somewhere for sure, most likely a development project (but the article does not mention this).

I can only think of two scenarios: 1: we are dealing with a PR trick raising peoples interest (like me blogging about it) - very unlikely though.  2. it's just lack of publishing accuracy and journalistic interest putting something out that was not really verified and made sense of - more likely.

Anyways, whenever there will be a Garden Hotel in Dhofar region I hope it will do well.

New trends in tourism?

Soul searching

It is kind of a known way of travelling, typically associated to backpacker travelling in South East Asia.  I have an increasing number of friends who are trying to escape from their everyday life (typically in tough periods) for 3 to 6 months or more, just to have some time away with themselves and figure out what is really important for them in life.  Bali, India, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam are typical preferred by these travelers, who’s age range from 25 to 60.  There is a good chance that such lads are coming back home with a fisherman look (suntanned &  bearded) practicing yoga and being vegetarians. Well at least that’s the modal character of a soul searcher trying to adapt back to big city life or just kissing good bye to it forever.

Travel to a new skill

Have you heard of the muay thai boot camps in Thailand, where they make you suffer few hours a day for 2-3 month with the reward of coming back to your real life ripped like a kung fu warrior and never being scared again by the big guy in the pub? Well that’s just one of the options you have if you want to spend few months of your life away from home, returning with a totally new skill.  Visiting certain monasteries for an intense language course is another such formula. I am sure traveler creativity has all figured it out already and one can become a sushi chef, coastal lifeguard, or sailing instructor in few weeks or month of intensive training in exotic locations.

Movie locations catcher

Probably Paris did not need the DaVinci Code to promote itself, unwillingly however several locations within the French capital that featured in the movie (like the Saint-Sulpice chapel) became known and visited  by hundreds of thousands of DaVinci Code enthusiast. Same goes for the clay houses where a few shots of the Star Wars were taken back in the 80's in Tunis (today The Sidi Driss Hotel, in Matmata), the locations of the Jaws in Massachusetts or even the Nothing Hill in London.

This is still a very niche kind of segment but I recon it is growing in volume and importance as the Asian travel market is becoming increasingly significant. Somewhat similar is the sport fan travel. Football games or even stadiums within the English Premier League and the Serie A of Italy are becoming pilgrimage sites for thousands of traveling fans annually.

Time travel

Let’s be honest, probably you thought about how’d be like to live a few centuries back for some days? Waking up as a knight in the age of Arthur the Lion Heart, or as Robin Hood? Eventually Maryann or another princess in the royal court? Well if not than you must have had a very different childhood than most of the people I know. Or, the only thing you thought about is how’d be like to live 50 or 100 years from now in the future. Well, not too bad either.  I am actually not aware of places who offer the full experience of living like centuries ago or decades ahead, but I bet there would be a demand for it.  Obviously the future one would rely on the known master pieces of sci-fi literature and the creativity of attraction designers.  So I expect that not too long from now there will be castles and the villages that specialize in taking you back or forward in time not only for the hour (as museums do) but for a few days with no cheating.

Eco neutral travel

Have you ever wondered how much environmental damage you do when climbing your SUV on top of a mountain or taking your family to ski? Probably not and that’s almost all right.  But think for a second what it would take to go for a weekend holiday and plan everything such as your ecological footprint would be neutral. I.e. the net environmentally impact of your visit is nil. Think about what you do during a trip and you’ll see that it pretty much take a Homo Sapiens to stay almost neutral.  Probably there would be very few travelers interested for such type of recreation, but anyways, it was worth the thought.

Strongest Omani brand abroad...

Following up on my earlier thinking on the brand promise of Oman, I was trying to figure out which Omani brand is possibly the strongest abroad. When I mean the strongest I refer to the most known, and when I mean brand I not only refer to a product, but rather a name that one can associate with.   Most probably the best know Omani name internationally is the one of HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said  for all the right reasons.  My thinking here though is related more to commercial names and brands, their current awareness and future potential.

One of the most obvious calls would be Oman Tourism (i.e. Sultanate of Oman), especially considering the recent efforts put into the promotion of Oman as a tourism destination. Another possible candidate could be Amouage with a bespoke strategy of becoming a major player on the international luxury fragrances market.  Perhaps Oman Air with a best in class business class seat award, a growing fleet and regional presence?  I was also thinking of Oman Sail given the recent successes and huge exposure on the sports channels around the world. Let's face it, the brands that have a strong local call like Bank Muscat, Omantel, Nawras, The Royal Opera House Muscat  etc...have little to no traction to an international audience yet.

So let's have a closer look to the ones before:

• Oman Tourism - strong presence at international tourism fairs, adverts on international media, a strong  offering for active and spa tourism, a smart complementary choice to a Dubai mainstream experience (@OmanTourism)
• Amouage - strong story, good product,  potential for a strong frankincense association, exotic apeal (@AmouagePerfumes)
• Oman Air - young fleet, best in class BC seat, strong regional routes (@omanair)
• Oman Sail - world class team, several recent successes on the world tour, solid local roots and case for existence, mix of sports, heritage, lifestyle story (@OmanSail)

All in all I think probably Oman Sail is currently the best positioned to take a lead on internationally most known Omani brand. However a bit more coordination (I am not assuming there is none) between the strategies of all three could result in benefits for all of them. E.g. why not see a Frankincense or Amouage boat in the Oman Sail fleet? Why not create an Oman Sail line of Amuage fragrances for a sporty, fresh feel.

Any other candidates you'd ad?

Red balloon over the stadium

I have had the fortune of wining a ticket to the Oman - Australia match before the holidays, through Mr.Sythe's blog. For my first time seeing Oman play live I had great fun and enjoyed the atmosphere.  For a country where football is so popular and with so much potential for change, there is a whole lot more that could be done to improve the experience and the show.  (I noted that the Omani Football Association OFA has launched a few new initiatives like the Super Fan Program or the Support the Shirt Program. These are all good initiatives and merit attention, but they mainly focus on the online sphere less on the show itself. I also noted that the FunZone section of OFA website is still empty).  I thought to put down a few ideas myself, perhaps they will be useful for the OFA and whomever else has a say in the Omani Football.

1. Improvements of the fan experience:

• Place more, much more (temporary) signage around the stadium to direct to parking areas and different stands (VIP, Media etc.)
• A half time raffle or anything similar with perhaps a short half time show will do a lot of good for the overall experience and spice up the idle time   
• Install giant LCD screen capable of the live showing TV footage
• Besides vending table/points, engage walking vendors on the stands, it increases the sales and make experience more comfortable especially if you need a bottle of water every 20 minutes
• Instead of one-sip small water cups, better use water in 300ml plastic bags with a straw that is equal safe and no need to buy 6 or 10 to temper your thirst.

2. Commercial ideas:

• Design an OFA polyester or artificial silk shals/masars, much better in this climate than the knitted scarfs which are hot, heavy and less appealing. Adding on OFA designed funky hand fans for cooling can also be a practical merchandise gadget.
• Create larger merchandise points, not just for shirts but also other items (hats, fans, full gear with name printing on etc.)
• Consider creating a large red hot air balloon with OFA sign on (or any other head sponsor if not FIFA rules apply) that can be lifted over the stadium on each match day. It would be seen from many areas of Muscat (including Expressway and SQ HW traffic) informing that its a match-day. In case of Oman victory 11 smaller red hot air baloon can be released at the end of the match so everybody in Boshar, Khuwair and Ansab Seeb would know about the triumph without even being there. It also can be done in a bit of a ceremonial way (player of the match releasing the balloons etc.)

The idea of charging for the entry to most matches (tickets from RO 2) will probably justify more the case for an improved fan experience.  These are relatively low cost ideas (with the exception of the LCD screen) and can have a nice impact.

Next time you can see the Reds will the their match against Ireland on the 11th of September in London (Fulham stadium).

Who do we want the most?

It's always good to know who are you after, especially if you are a destination/hotel/restaurant who wants to do better. Shifting to a more leisurely mode, and without trying to be exhaustive here I listed a few types of travelers that we might or might not want to chase down with unbeatable offers.

• Business travelers: They love (hereafter "Love"): airport transfer in room rate; to be called by name at the reception; spacious lobby with free internet; loyalty programs; night club within premises. They hate (hereafter "Hate"): to press shirts; to take the shower in the tub; the 15 different light switches in the room; to explore the city and eat alone; admitting that they buy stuff at the airport that they don't need.
• MICE (conference and incentive) travelers: Love - to be overly looked after by the organizers; souvenirs; to discover the best shopping deals in town.  Hate - to be in time; agenda starting at 8.30am; to be discovered at the pool during the afternoon plenary.
• All inclusive travelers: Love - animated programs for the kids; buffet breakfast; buffet lunch; buffet dinner; buffet bar, complementary facial, more animated program for the kids. Hate - rainy weather, another family from their home town next door, to accept that "all-inclusive" package does actually not include the four-hand, water-bed, hot-stone Ayurvedic full-day treatment.
• Golf and Spa tourists: Love - to travel with buddies; nice bars around the corner; an afternoon nap; to be told "nice shot sir" and/or "you look very healthy today mam". Hate - to call home, to loose balls, the thought of settling balance at check-out; not knowing how much they'll have to wait before they can be do this again. 
• Shopping tourists: Love - mall-hotel transfer in room rate; discounts; buy-one-get-two's; junk food after a successful raid; to put on clothes they just bought; VAT rebate at the airport. Hate - the text message on their credit card balance; to see their new purchase at a discount in the next shop; to sum up the damage done; to be asked at the hotel what they have seen today?
• Active and Adventure tourist: Love - to explain what they are here for; full cover insurance; Hate - to be in need of the full cover insurance; to watch "127 hours";
• Honeymooners, "Romantourists": Love - to be upgraded as a present;  breakfast in bad;  sunrise at 10am; sunset when the hot chocolate fudge cake is served; candles in the room. Hate - to be stared at; having to pay for the scooter they crashed; one of those days.
• Backpackers: Love - to think they are soul searching; couchsurfing.org; to meet Frida the Swede PR student or Raul the Spanish photographer; Hate -  hitchhiking  in the rain; not meeting Frida or Raul; having to call mom every other day.
• Stag/Hen party goers: Love - to be stared at; to think they are less ridiculous then the groom, to watch "The Hangover" Hate - running away without paying and 2 minutes later being caught, red eye flights; to watch the "Hall Pass".

As you see these groups have very different needs and motivations for travel and consumption. So one cannot do enough to understand a bit more what makes the difference to them. Which few should we seek to target? Easier to tell which we should not.

Locals always save the day

If you were following my thoughts inhere you might remember that I have emphasized the importance of domestic tourism for any country. It's not just lip service, 70% of world tourism activity is related to domestic travelers.  A rule of thumb says that if 50% from the tourism of a country is domestic, it provides a healthy balance in case of international economic volatility.

Anyways, it seems that the tourism authorities in Oman have all their homework done and more. They have just launched "Now is the time", a campaign to promote domestic tourism in off season periods like summer. Well done Ladies and Gentlemen! You might want to stop reading at this point as there will be nothing new for you inhere. (I secretly hope I am wrong).  I think this is a good start and certainly would be interested to see results. The private sector support is also impressive, see all the discounts they are willing to provide for residents.

There are a few other thoughts that might be considered as follow-ups:
--travel vouchers as employment benefit: this works in many countries as there are tax incentives in place to provide travel vouchers to employees as opposed to cash. Here the tax part would not work, but there are other ways to make employers (public and private) interested in providing such benefits to their employees. Since these vouchers can only be spent domestically it just boost internal demand. It is a no-brainer.
--ad an extra day to the week-end: in off peak periods most hotels and resorts are struggling  during weekdays and they are a bit relieved (from the pain of being empty) during week-end. A good way to partially mitigate this is to offer an extra night free for week-end guest. For resorts it generates extra food ad beverage revenues anyways and most people consume on site.
--extend campaigns to restaurants: eating out is much more present in local culture than local travel. Bank on that and combine the two. There can be days of the week (usually first or second day working day the week) when restaurants give huge, up to 50% discounts for hotel guests
--local travel is all about packaging and offering activities: having this in mind never advertise just a stay somewhere. A Muscatier is unlikely to travel to Salala to check out the city and the hotel. If it comes with 2 full days of activities in a package, it's a much easier decision.

And last but not least, since the ideas are there we might as well focus hard on the implementation. The proof is in the pudding, so monitoring the results of such campaigns and learning from their impacts is key. I cant' wait to see some public numbers on that. Celebrate your success!

Pictures from corbis.com: Celia Peterson, and Keith Sell

We can dance...

Would you dance? The staff of the Grosvenor House in Dubai certainly would!
A great viral video was shot recently capturing the hotel staff engaging in a so called flash mob. A cool and entertaining one. Watch the surprised faces of the most guests, while some others seemed hard-to-surprise, perhaps trained flash mob attendants.

Viral videos are a great way to market, attract attention, create buzz especially on social media and its target segments, regular facebook, tweeter, youtube users.

Obviously on this genre originality is key, so repeating this would not have the desired impact...but variation could do. Perhaps it can also take regional proportions and staff of different hotels will start competing with each other bringing on more and more interesting productions.

In fact it could also give ideas to hotels in Oman calling for a most original flash mobs. There would be multiple benefits, as besides a great marketing tool, it is also a great way to motivate and keep a team spirit among your staff!  What would be your flash mob idea?

If you need ideas on how to do a flash mob (it's not that easy as it seems) check this out.
Or see how it was done by others elsewhere.

Are Omani tour guides exceptional?

Have you ever used a tour guide in Muscat, or seen few of them in action?  The last one I noted was local guide in the Grand  Mosque who was really outstanding: engaging, knowledgeable, passionate, modest and with a lot of humor at the same time. He was speaking about Islam and its cultural aspects. Truly outstanding experience. But I have a feeling that he was an exception, hopefully I am wrong.
This reminds me about how much more a destination can offer having a sound pool of outstanding local travel guides. Nonetheless it can also be a great business for the really good ones.
I am sure most of you experienced the travel guide who is great at giving a textbook monotone speech about the attraction and destination, (making it felt that it is the 50th time he/she is doing it..that week), before it rushes on to the next attraction with extended unopened umbrella (usually of a distinct disgusting color) over his/her head.
Well, the news is that the time of such guides is moving to a slow but sure end. There will always be the traveler who prefers this type of canned food experience, slowly moving into a retro feel, to be revived few decades later as a 'cool' or nostalgic thing to do...
Until then, the new trend is the personalized, original, genuine local experience, offered by amateur or pro guides who promise great fun, originality, a non-mainstream perspective. They deliver much more than visual impressions, they put you in action, situations, stir emotions, make you interact with the city/destination. They tell stories of their own offering you a local angle of the place through their lives, but seen from your perspective. A great example of this is vayable.com. A site where tested tourist guides offer unique travel experiences. Unfortunately there is no tour registered from Oman yet, but check out the "Paris by scooter" tour or the "San Francisco's premier food" tour or the "Old Rome walking" tour.  From 3-4 hours to full day experiences you can have most of what you look for.
Let's put aside for the moment the standard offering of most local agents, and guess if there would be demand for things like:

• experiencing the souqs through the eyes of a local merchant's son,
• fishing with locals from say Bandar Khairan village, then cooking the catch with local family,
• tasting the oil exploration life style of the desert along with an interesting introduction into the world of the black gold at its source,
• do a "Local portre's" or "Past and future architecture" photo shooting tour with a local photographer
• morning horse ride or evening football on the beach with locals,
• Spend the afternoon of a bullfight with one of the bull owners from Barka and go through the excitement of the preparations and the fight,
• and so much more...

(royalty free picture from corbis.com)

The Where-To-Go-On-Week-End dilemma made fun

We already stressed the importance of domestic travel for creating a less volatile tourism for Oman.

There are quite a few ways to stimulate domestic tourism from discount vouchers offered to residents and/or employees, all the way to week-end and family packages.  Few might think of making the selection of your destination easier as a measure to improve domestic tourism. They might be wrong.

Choosing where to go for a week-end get away in Oman is not always an easy task. One cool and unique way of converting this dilemma into fun is to create a short online visual test that gauges your mood for the type of a week-end experience.

Hotels.com booking engine had such an experiment some years ago, using the VisualDNA platform. The idea was to ask you to express a series of visual choices that best describe your mood or desire to experience for the upcoming trip. Based on the answers the database behind the slick and cool platform recommended a selection of hotels that were believed to offer what you need. To get a feel of the the approach try the personality test on the same site.

Transposing the idea into domestic destinations more like only hotels, could be an original and unique way to promote some less known but interesting Omani destinations. Could be a nice project for the private sector or the ministry? Your call...

One thing for sure, it is perhaps time to get inspired from more than just Oman Off Road  or the Y magazine weekly recommendations.