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.

Omani success...through sports again

I have been enthusing over the role of sports in building a competitive mind set and subsequently economy for some time now. I know the link might seem pretty  remote at the first glance, but put in a cultural and strategic context it does make sense to me.

So here's another success of Omani sportsman that should encouraging, inspire and drive kids to take up  various sports and if suits them to engage in professional performance pursuits.

The Oman Sail teams in the Extreme Sailing Series have finished the championship in top position.  The Wave (skipper Leigh McMillan) has won the gold by a narrow margin ahead of a French team, while Oman Air (skipper Morgan Larson) clinched the podium in a tight and exiting last race, literary winning on the last meters.

This is a huge result for Oman and Oman Sail, a timely justification of the strategy they took some years back.

What will be important now, it to provide proper media coverage to Hashim Al Rashdi (@hashim_alrashdi) from The Wave Muscat team and Nasser al Mashari from team Oman Air to talk about how much work and dedication is needed to achieve these levels.

To tell the story of the journey that took them from aspiring young dinghy sailors to members of the best sailing teams around the word. They should not forego this opportunity and act as inspirational figures. Having the professional backing of OmanSail behind this might be an easier task than for many other promising athletes in Oman.

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).

Omani Olympians

The London2012 Olympics are officially on.  Danny Boyle, the mastermind behind the opening ceremony who is also the director of the brilliant movie Trainspotting, made sure the show had lots of originality, some humor but above all he grandiosely proved us that there is probably much more Britain gave to the world than one might suspect.

We have also seen the Omani Olympic Team of four athletes marching in traditional costumes. (If the Football team had qualified avoiding the pathetic defeat against Senegal, the delegation could have been more impressive). These four athletes will be the ambassadors of Oman to the sporting world in the next three weeks or so. With a surprise success they would be capable to attract more attention on Oman than any other country promotion could. So let's have a look on who they are.

We have Ahmed Al-Hatmi (27) from Al Rustaq, competing in shooting - men's double trap. Then three track athletes: Shinoona Salah Al-Habsi (19) from AL-Khoud, compeating in women's 100 m, Barakat Mubarak Al-Harthi (27) in men's 100m and Ahmed Mohamed Al-Merjabi (21) in men's 400 m, both from Ibra.
The odds seem to favor sprinter Mubarak Al-Harthi as most likely to stay in the race for longer, eventually making it to a quarter final, eventually a semi final or -through a small miracle- even to the final. However that would probably mean a massive improvement from his personal best (10.17s). The weakest qualifying time in Beijing was 10.14s and the last sprinter in the final stopped the clock at 10.03s, while Bolt has scored the depressing result of 9.69 (WR) with his handbrakes on in the last 10 meters.

We can follow Ahmed on the 2nd of August, while Shinoona and the sprinter boys will have their track events between 9-12 August.

Good luck tó all four of them, and let's hope they will be able to cause some surprises and convert their success in  great sources of inspiration. Inspiration for people to check out where on earth this country of Oman is, and inspiration for young Omani athletes to work harder and dream big in their sports disciplines.


Photo: Reuters

Smiles of Oman

They say the shortest way between two people is a smile. Judging by this Oman should be a rather crowded place. I always had the impression that people of Oman smile much more than people of other GCC countries. Hence, the title choice of  "Smiles of Oman" for the latest training initiative of the National Hospitality Institute is just great! So is the idea! - a service level improvement campaign underpinned by training modules for customer facing staff, their managers and supervisors.

Although I have not had a chance to see the training materials I hope that the one-day modules manage not only to scratch the surface by offering canned formulas of welcome address and deal with problematic cases, but also providing insights on customer behaviors, emphatic understanding and more. I always have the feeling that there are two main issues causing service problems here: 1) failure (or unwillingness) to understand customers perspective and/or 2) lack of knowledge on what they are selling. Perhaps a third one is response time.

Like any campaign the real benefits should be in the follow up. Not knowing what the plans of NHI are I attempted to put down a few ideas:

• Sell it to consumers: a strong social media component of the program (twitter, facebook) could help selling the certification concept idea to consumers as well. If we -consumers- will not be aware of the service value of the Smiles of Oman tag, I doubt it will be able to offer enough for businesses as a one day training program.
• Incentivise businesses to use it: like most new things people have to be convinced to use it. Coming up with some arrangement with radio/tv and written press to favorably price Smiles of Oman certified ads, might help business in considering the program and some fresh promotion as well.
• Build it into a certification program: this is a bit of a larger bite and requires significant resources but in exchange would ensure long term impact and sustainability. An annual rankings and award system for the service sector would do good for everybody.

There is a lot in a smile true, but let's not forget the ultimate goal is to make us -customers- smile.

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

"Laser" Chance for Oman

Probably there is no media consumer in Oman who has not heard of Oman Sail before.  And if there is any left, than beware as Oman Sail will be organizing the Laser World Championships between November 2013 and January 2014. For those not into boats, the Laser is a very popular small sailing boat (dinghy) usually sailed by one or rarely by two.


As mentioned earlier, sport events are probably most practical means for promoting a country like Oman, that lends itself to so many outdoor sport activities. Besides the benefit of promotion, the other great ripple effect is making sports popular among Omanis, a job where Oman Sail most likely has done quite well since inception.
Is not an easy call though, as organizing such events is always costly and poses several challenges to host organizations, authorities and local creative minds alike.  The great thing about this event is that is a relatively long one, so it creates several opportunities for promotion and incorporating local events between races. Here are few ideas on how to improve the impact of the event domestically and internationally:

• Fun for kids:  kids are the main draw card for many families. Since sailing is not always the most action packed sports from a spectator on the shore, killing the time with interesting, sailing related attractions will attracts more spectators (small sailing pond, sailing themed playground etc. etc.)
• Free sailing lessons for the period of the event: it is just much easier to relate and appreciate to sports if you ever tried it. At the end of the day making sailing popular is a large numbers game. The more have the chance to try, the more will fall in love with it
• Get people closer to action: using CCTV with camera close to action and projectors on the shore, as well as perhaps floating stands using mid-size cruise ships, or cargo ships installed with small stands
• Unique merchandising: good quality (!) clothing, toys, and sailing gear is essential to create a lasting image
• Synergistic events: include sailing boat exhibition or similar to enhance attraction for the same period
• Attempt for a world record: (most sails on water sailing together per sqm km, or Laser with most people on board etc.)
• Get international celebrities on board: the effort of tracking down a few big names who are into sailing,  and convincing them to be there might pay off if smartly planned
• Not just Laser: a concept that does not only focuses on Laser, but it comes across as an international fiesta of sailing sports attracting sailing enthusiasts from the region

…and many more… 

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.

In search of the new Habsi...

Have you heard of Puskas, Beckenbauer or Johan Cruijff ?  If not than probably football is not your thing.  If  your did, do you know their nationalities? (ɥɔʇnp 'uɐɯɹǝƃ 'uɐıɹɐƃunɥ)
Long after they have retired (Puskas passed away in 2006), are still great ambassadors for their countries. There are probably few modern day marketing budgets that can repeat the performance of these legends in promoting their countries. The Hungarian inventiveness of Puskas, the German reliability of Beckenbauer and the Dutch completeness of Cruijff.

It is clear that successful teams and athletes are often priceless when it comes to country promotion. Although he is not (yet) a legend, Ali Al Habsi is playing a similar role. He is a great ambassador for Oman and its football and he has just been included in the top 500 most influential Arabs in the world list (by Arabian Business), where he is ranked #138, the first among Omanis. There is one and a bit of a problem with him: he is all alone and he is "only" a goalkeeper.

It is probably more difficult to stand out as a striker or a mid fielder and be b(r)ought in the Premier league or any other league for that matter, but Oman definitively needs another star, a striker! Ideally it would not only be the on-pitch skills making him a star, but a well balanced off-pitch personality as well, a true sportsman. (unlike Drogba who is a superstar, a cover page personality, but how much good does he actually do for Ivory Coast in terms of image?)

So who can match up Habsi in terms of personality and performance?  Perhaps the OFA, among many other challenges, has to focus on creating at least another outstanding personality.  (one way could be to support a few of the prospects to make the second division of large championships, then it's up to them to make the cut to the first stage and excel).  Amad Al-Hosni with his 76 matches in the squad could not really make it yet. So, who could be the next Habsi?

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.

Using the power of subtle promotion

It is well known that more often then not an article or an "independent" review worth more than tons of expensive advertising.  Obviously this is nothing new for the professionals responsible for the promotion of Oman as a tourism destination. I am almost sure that there is an (albeit small) team in the Ministry of Tourism, that works on putting together an agenda of international sporting, cultural and media events to be hosted in Oman for 1-3 years ahead. Coordinating bidding work, lobbying with sport diplomats, media people, organizing fam trips for decision makers is all part of their daily work.

They must be thinking along the lines of sporting events that have wide international exposure and at the same time Oman lends itself for them, such as Sailing, Rally, Golf, Cycling, Mountain Biking etc.  I can be confident that the experience of hosting the 2010 Asian Beach Games is used as a momentum.

In terms of cultural events they surely work closely with the ROH programming team and focus on widening the reach beyond Muscat Festival’s traditional base and the Opera season.

They think of media productions like movies shots, treasure hunt shows (like the US one Oman hosted some years ago), extreme sport reality shows, documentaries (sea life, diving, historic etc.). The press treasure hunt launched in Jan 2012 is a good initiative. 

They conceptualize viral initiatives using social media. Who does not remember posting for the best job in the world of Tourism Queensland calling for an island administrator with not too much work on pristine Australian tropical beaches? I am sure with a bit of brainstorming a number of comparable but not copycat ideas can be generated buy our team and perhaps involving a few external people.

(On the movie note: take for instance the recent 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' movie with Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt.  It ended up being a great promotion for Yemen. The paradox was that due to the instability in Yemen the movie was shot not in Oman but, guess where...in Morocco.)

So coming back to our small team, since all of this is successfully happening, the tourism decision makers are concerned on increasing the capacity and output of this team to aim for more creative and innovative promotion of the country and bigger tourism impact. But what if I am wrong?

"Beauty has an address"

There is a lot of work being done on the promotion of Oman as a tourism destination. Obviously the ministry has taken the bull by the horns and is attacking the world travel market on several fronts. “The beauty has an address-Oman" campaign with adverts on CNN and other global media, creation of a new tourism promotion portal, the new country brand development are all part of an orchestrated effort.  Besides these softer issues, the tourism infrastructure is also under heavy fire: new airport terminal to be opened soon, new convention Centre coming up, major hotel projects under way, Sultan Qaboos Port redevelopment project etc.  Remote wadis and mountain areas becoming easily accessible through the increasing number of new paved roads. This is all exiting for me as traveler or resident, let for the tourism professional. I think the challenge is huge, however with the resources made available and the right lessons learnt a lot can be done in relatively short time.

Taking note of all these positive trends I took the liberty to list a few things that I think are still missing or are not yet satisfactory. Few thought on the first, and then future posts to follow on the others. 

Creating a country brand is almost always a very difficult exercise and involves huge responsibility. Almost always a board composed of public figures, artists, celebrities, advertising-, media- and tourism specialists is involved. The responsibility can only be with such a forum especially in light of the costs that are involved. There is a very fine balance between creating something that is very creative and has the potential for a huge impact (but possibly difficult to digest by officials), or just doing something for the sake of ticking a box and actually not creating any new value.

In an efficient tagline --or slogan if you like-- there has to be a certain degree of wit oand hmmm effect. It has to be a great deal aspirational, not just an eye or ear catcher as it almost never works alone. It is accompanied at least by a logo but more often complex imagery or even videos.  While “The beauty has an address-Oman” does relatively well on the first criteria of cathing the ear, it does not fly on the second of being aspirational. It perhaps catches your ears but it does not make you wonder what Oman is like. It does not challenge your curiosity. It is almost like an oxymoron.

Perhaps trying more to play on the purity, the originality the untouched nature of the country, the genuine human values that are still to be found in these societies, the essence of Arabian culture would have made a better job as well. Just leaving the "-Oman" out would significantly improve the slogan. It would be more intriguing  more ear catcher and for those who would worry that it looses the point, it does not. Almost always comes in a context where the puzzle is solved immediately.

But again, do not get me wrong, the current slogan is better than most of Oman competitors have in the region. Let’s just have a quick look:  “Definitely Dubai” - not bad, “Abu Dhabi - A destination of distinction” - i bet it is..., “Saudi – An enriching experience” -- rich right..., “Bahrain – Manama Capital of Arab Culture”...for sure, “Qatar – As independent as you are”...what?!, “Ras Al Khaima – a rising emirate”...that's what you think..., “Sharja – My destination for precious family moments”...do I have to go all the way there for those moments...?
As one can see, apart of the one Dubai has all the other are pretty lame some even ridiculous. So well done Oman, and please do even better next time.