exceptional autumn season in Dhofar this year

The Undersecretary of MHT for tourism: The success of the Khareef Dhofar season this year is a result of marketing, promotional strategy, integrated and for the harmonious system by all partners of the tourism sector.

Chairman of Dhofar Municipality: The early announcement of event programs which aimed at providing the opportunity for tourists to set their tourism plan, contributed to strengthening the season’s success
The efforts made by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism( MHT), and Dhofar Municipality, in cooperation with partners in the tourism sector, led to exceptional Khareef Dhofar season’s programs in this year of 2023, where the season recorded remarked standard results, due to its integrated and harmonious marketing and promotional strategy, where it recorded approximately one million visitors , registering an increase of 16% .
Commenting on this achievement, His Excellency Azzan bin Qasim Al Busaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, for tourism said: The success of the Khareef Dhofar Season this year came as a result of strenuous efforts undertaken by the Ministry, in cooperation with partners in the tourism sector.
His Excellency the Undersecretary added: the Ministry exerted its efforts to maximize the richness of the tourism product in order to create unique and diverse experiences for visitors and tourists, through tourism services that meet the requirements of all categories of tourists, and to assure the readiness of hospitality facilities, including the licensed hotel establishments, in addition to integrate efforts with government and private sectors in the Governorate of Dhofar and the partners of the tourism sector, while working in a team spirit, which reflected positively on the success of Khareef Dhofar Season, where the number of its visitors exceeded 924 thousand visitors, up by 17%, compared to the previous season.
He pointed out that, the promotional plan for the season, which developed a marketing strategy for all three months periods of the season. has been set in accordance with the proportion to each period of the season, in various paths including media promotions, social media paid advertisements, and concluding partnerships with airline companies and hotel establishments to implement a promotional campaign, there is also ongoing cooperation with airlines and hotels to design attractive promotional packages and incentives, while many packages have actually been offered and sold through the platforms and websites of tourist offices, where they have witnessed great demand and interest as a result of the attractive offers, while the Governorate of Dhofar was also promoted in conferences , regional and international travel and tourism markets, highlighting the events and activities carried out during Khareef season .
His Excellency clarified that the Ministry succeeded last year season in promoting the periods in which the tourism movement was weak in particular at the beginning and end of the season, due to many reasons including the incompleteness of the autumn atmosphere and the start of the academic year, while 57% of the visitors to Khareef Dhofar arrived to the Governorate of Dhofar during the period from the beginning of the season till the end of August 2023, where the tourist flow was distributed between land ports by 77% and 23% through air ports through Salalah International Airport.
He also clarified that , the focus was on various types of tourism, such as adventure tourism and hosting international sports competitions and tournaments, in addition to organizing specialized international conferences and exhibitions, with the follow-up of the Oman Convention Bureau , which affiliated to the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism. This in the context of the efforts aimed at ranking the Sultanate of Oman as an attractive tourist destination throughout the year and a leading model for specialized tourism, such as international and regional conference tourism, and making the Governorate of Dhofar during the spring season (Surb , as it is called locally) prepared to attract regional and international conferences and events in addition to the Khareef season, as well as setting a program to attract charter flights from some international markets such as Europe during the winter tourism season.
His Excellency the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism for Tourism also pointed out to the implementation of a group of tourism development projects in some tourist attraction sites in partnership between the Ministry, the Dhofar Municipality and Omran Company, including the waterfront development project for Al-Mughassil Beach, the Hamrir View Project, Wadi Darbat, Etin Gardens, and Ain Jarziz, was a qualitative addition and enhanced the quality of the tourist experience for visitors.
For his part, His Excellency Dr. Ahmed bin Mohsen Al-Ghassani, Chairman of Dhofar Municipality, said that the most critical factor for the success of the KhareefDhofar and other seasons in the governorate of Dhofar is due to the integrated and harmonious system of the public and private sector entities, the civil society institutions, and the people of the governorate.
He stressed that the success of Khareef Dhofar, would not have been possible without this kind of participatory and integrated system, through which all parties in the governorate of Dhofar have worked within the framework of a unified vision that everyone works to achieve it.
He added: In this context, it is necessary to point out that, the efforts of this integrated system have contributed to the success of the season for various reasons, while the first reason for the success of the season is the periodic meetings of the competent authorities in the Governorate of Dhofar to discuss visions and plans and work on integrated teamwork, as this comes within the framework of the ( system of the Governorate of Dhofar), under the supervision of His Highness Sayyid Marwan bin Turki Al Said, Governor of Dhofar.
This comes as a continuation of the development of plans with specific roles in which all competent authorities participated, where the development plans for this year’s season, have been linked to the evaluation of the previous year’s season, as well as setting the tourism promotion plans, improving services at the tourism sites, locating events over more expansive geographical areas, raising the level and quality of events, organizing traffic movement, and maintaining the environmental balance when planning to develop tourism sites.
He emphasizedthat, one of the factors for the success of Khareef Dhofar season is the availability of all information about the tourism sites and events in one platform, which is the (Dhofar Seasons application).
Dhofar Seasons application ,is considered as an …