Azzan bin Qasim Al Busaidi, Oman’s Undersecretary of Tourism, said visitor numbers were down by less than 1% year-on-year in the months to August, with the UK down by “less than 7%”.

However, he admitted: “It is not an easy task to sell a destination that is very diverse, authentic and safe in the neighbourhood we are in as we speak.”

He added: “The sector seems to be more resilient than we thought. Having said that, we believe the potential for growth could have been much better.”

Visitor numbers, Al Busaidi said, “reflect that our airspace remains open, our airports remain open and we still have a steady flow of visitors in the country".

He stressed: “The same reasons that made Oman very popular in the first two months of this year are still there.”

Al Busaidi said he hoped to make up the shortfall in UK visitors by the end of the year “if we are lucky”. Last year, more than 103,000 UK tourists visited Oman, an increase of around 10%.

“Q1 this year was close to 10% up, then everything else happened," he added.

New approaches

Oman plans to “work more on what distinguishes our product”, Al Busaidi said. Focuses include adventure tourism and sustainability, while maintaining its upmarket hotel focus.

He indicated previous plans to attract mid-price hotel developments were on hold. However, more use of social media marketing to widen Oman’s audience would be made.

“We will be looking into a new approach that utilises technology to reach a target audience," he explained. For the trade, Oman will run four fam trips this year, with more planned.

In terms of connectivity, Al Busaidi said efforts would concentrate on building load factors on Oman Air’s flights, adding the return of the British Airways Muscat service was another goal. “Maybe that would help a lot,” he said.

New properties from Rixos, Anantara, and Oman’s first Club Med are due to open, the latter two hours’ drive from Dubai and aimed mainly at the UAE market.

Looking further ahead, a hotel in one of the world’s highest dark sky areas is in planning, with Al Busaidi promising “a sea of stars above you”.