"Unknown Oman" Unknown No Longer

By Richard H. Curtiss

Oman, which began its modernization program only 25 years ago when its ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said, took over from his conservative and xenophobic father, has been rushing headlong toward the 21st century ever since. However, although it has welcomed foreign specialists and technicians who could help with its development program, and has some half-million expatriate workers, mostly South Asians, among its two million inhabitants, Oman was, until 1987, unwilling to welcome Western tourists.

Because the country derived most of its income from petroleum, development of tourist facilities was very low on its priority list. Oman's nine first-class hotels have catered primarily to Western development technicians and visiting business executives, and its 25 humbler hotels put up guest workers while they looked for permanent lodging. Therefore it was only within the past decade that Omani planners, looking for ways to keep their economy booming after the petroleum runs out, concluded that the country's tourism potential could no longer be ignored.

In fact, among the 21 Arab countries, Oman probably is one of only a very few with the potential to attract all of the tourists it can accommodate. From October through April, with its spectacular mountains, sunny skies, mild climate, beautiful sand beaches on the Arabian sea and rich cultural and archeological heritage, Oman could easily become a winter vacation Mecca for northern Europeans.

Oddly, in the summer months of July and August, when the temperatures are too warm for most Western visitors, Oman's southern Dhofar province, bordering on Yemen, already has a large annual influx of tourists. They are Gulf Arabs who load their families into automobiles and drive across the well-paved desert highways from the Arabian Gulf sheikhdoms to Salalah, the Dhofar capital. They are attracted by the cool monsoon rains, which can best be described as a cross between a fine mist and a drizzle. These continue for more than two months, providing cooling relief at exactly the period when the Arabian Gulf is suffering its hottest weather.

In the winter months Salalah, a center of the frankincense trade for more than four thousand years, and a port from which Hadramauti sailors sailed as far afield as Africa, Indonesia and China--leaving the Islamic religion and Arab dynasties in their wake--is as delightful a beach resort as the 20-mile coastal strip around Muscat, Oman's capital, and the traditional ports of Sur to the east and Sohar to the west. Further, Dhofar province has a culture, handicrafts and even seashells differing from those found elsewhere in Oman.

Since Oman first opened its doors to Western tourists in 1987, when 900 were admitted, the experiment has been successful. "The country is not yet ready for backpackers," maintains one Omani official. "But we welcome tourists seriously interested in our culture." A western diplomat puts it differently: "They would like all their tourists to be middle-aged Swiss or rich Italian bankers." In fact most of the Western tourists at present are coming from German-speaking parts of Europe. This results largely from the enterprise of Swiss, German and Austrian package-tour operators, the strength of the German mark and the Swiss franc, and the annual urge of northern Europeans to break the long winter with some tropical sun.

To get an Omani visa, the visitor formerly needed a sponsoring company or individual in Oman. Now travel agencies or even Oman's hotels can be the necessary sponsors. This openness has elements of a screening process, however, because, although Oman is no more expensive than other countries of the Arabian peninsula, and is considerably less expensive than most of northern Europe, there is no way for visitors to cut costs to the bone by staying in family pensions or in youth hostels, as in Spain, Italy or the Greek islands.

There are several first-class hotels in and around Muscat, the capital. They include the luxurious Al-Bustan Palace, which was built at a cost of $250 million by Sultan Qaboos bin Said to host major conferences and serve as an auxiliary guest palace for distinguished visitors. Rooms there are available for 85 Omani rials for a single or 99 for a double (add RO. 10 to each price for rooms with a view of the sea and the hotel's sheltered sand beach). Since one rial is approximately U.S. $2.58, this means Al-Bustan Palace rooms are $219 to $255 per night, very expensive by almost anyone's standards.

Rooms are available at less than half those rates, however, in another first-class hotel, the Gulf Hotel and Resort, situated in an exclusive residential neighborhood near Muscat and overlooking a lovely beach which is scrupulously maintained by the Omani government as a nature reserve. There rooms are 35 rials ($90) for a single and 42 rials ($108) for a double, and 39 and 46 rials for rooms with a sea view. Priced only slightly higher and situated on the other end of the same nature reserve is the Muscat Intercontinental Hotel, also on the beach and with a marvelous atrium structure that provides a spacious but fully air-conditioned interior. Situated in the city itself and geared more to business travelers are the Muscat Sheraton, with similar rates, and a host of smaller and humbler hotels. All of the first-class hotels have swimming pools.

A two-hour drive inland from Muscat is Nizwa, a former Omani capital built around an ancient fort from which the movement to free the country's ports from a brief Portuguese domination was launched in the 17th century. Just outside Nizwa is a motel, built around a sparkling swimming pool, and with first-class service and rates. From Nizwa visitors also may make short side trips to the fort at Bahla, the ninth century capital of Oman, and to the beautifully restored Jibrin castle, built in 1670 by Oman's Imam Bilarab as a residence for his 300-person household.

What astonishes first-time visitors to Oman even more than the spectacular beaches, alpine mountain valleys, the fjord-like sunken valleys of the Musandam peninsula jutting into the Arabian Gulf, and the forbidding inland deserts of shifting sands is the care with which the country's natural wonders and man-make conveniences are maintained. Oman's major highways and its side roads have been broadened and are well maintained. Its village houses have been modernized within rules which require owners to maintain the contours and colors of traditional exteriors. And strict laws prohibit littering and regulate food preparation, water purity and trash disposal to protect Oman's residents and their tourist guests.

Most charming of all are Oman's friendly people. Their garb is unique, with Omani men wearing either the dashing turban called an ammama, or the conical embroidered cap called a kumma, along with their traditional white or, more recently, light blue dishdashas, which the Egyptians call galibiyas. For formal occasions Omani men also don outer robes in a variety of colors and a silver khanjar, a curved ceremonial dagger that is the mark of adulthood for all Omani males.

Women's clothing varies widely from place to place in Oman, a fact not immediately apparent since Omani women generally don a black abaya robe for wear outside the house, as in other Arabian peninsula countries. However, under the abayas, which are not worn inside the home and which are put aside outdoors for festive occasions, filmy and heavily embroidered Omani dresses are among the most colorful in the Arab world.

Unquestionably, unspoiled Oman is a tourist's paradise. And, because Oman's careful leaders want to keep it that way, they will not be stampeded into permitting a hedonistic "Club Med" atmosphere, although visitors who want a bottle of wine with dinner or who enjoy a beer or a cocktail in their rooms or in a bar will have no trouble finding any of these things in Oman's first-class hotels.

For all these reasons, Oman welcomed 17,000 Western and Far Eastern tourists in 1993, along with 33,000 additional visitors from nearby Gulf states. Undoubtedly it will continue to cater cheerfully to an ever-growing number of visitors interested in the country's culture and history, along with its abundant sunshine, unparalleled beaches and mountains, and its always proud, fascinating and friendly people.

Richard H. Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.