Property developers are targeting Oman.
The country’s hotel and residential landscape is seen as an undersupplied market that provides room for growth.
Tourism contributed 929 million rials (Dh8.86 billion) to Oman’s economy in the first half of last year, a rise of 3 per cent from a year earlier, as 2.4 million international tourists passed through Muscat and Salalah airports, according to a report from the consultancy Colliers International in November.
Some 26 hotel projects are in the pipeline, accounting for 4,299 rooms in Oman, as of October, according to STR Global.
The supply, however, is moving slowly and there are no scheduled openings next year, said Filippo Sona, the head of hotels division in the Middle East and North Africa for Colliers International.
The market is expected to have around 14,400 rooms by 2017, up from 8,000 rooms in 2013.
“It is important for Oman to strengthen the demand generators rather than insisting on the supply,” Mr Sona said. “We are reaching a point in Oman where the hotels market needs to diversify and get more international brands in different segments of the market.”
Last week, a Kuwaiti developer announced its biggest project in Oman. Alargan International Real Estate Company revived its tourism city complex at a cost of 200m rials. It includes plans for hotels, seafront villas, one to three-bedroom apartments and malls surrounding an artificial lagoon.
“Oman has always been somewhat of a hidden secret but recently we have seen people flocking to places in Oman,” said Mashaan Al Mashaan, the head of business development at Alargan International Real Estate Company in Kuwait City.
“It is not an aggressive market, somewhat of a slower market, but the demand is there from the middle income residential market. In case of tourism, the potential is there given the situation in the region,” he said.
Capital investments in Oman’s travel sector reached 364m rials last year, and is expected to grow annually by 8.6 per cent on average until 2017, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
“But any mixed use development needs a good destination branding,” Mr Sona said.
Some of the big ticket projects under development include Kempinski The Wave, Imagine Project, Muscat Plaza and the Seeb Seafront in Muscat.
The Alargan project, spread over 500,000 square metres is 30 kilometres from Muscat.
Scheduled to be completed in five years, it is expected to have three hotels, with one under a 5-star luxury brand and the rest 4-star properties, adding 505 rooms in total.
It would also have three commercial spaces, including a mall with restaurants.
The project, expected to create around 2,000 jobs, would be financed through pre-sales and bank financing. The plan is to have pre-sales of around 30 per cent of the residential units, 50 per cent during construction and the rest will be sold after construction.
Alargan will build the residential units and develop the infrastructure for the rest of assets. “There is a lot of demand from the Gulf in general,” Mr Al Mashaan said.
The project is located in an Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) zone that allows ownership by non-Arabian Gulf investors. Oman opened its real estate market to foreign investors in 2006.
Both Muscat Hills and The Wave projects are among the growing number of ITC developments coming on line in Oman.
Alargan is behind more than 10 projects in Oman, including residential and commercial spaces such as Beyout Al Faye, Al Hail Homes, Al Qurm Gardens, Naseem Salalah and Al Waha.
ssahoo@thenational.ae
Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE squad
Men's draw: Victor Scvortov and Khalifa Al Hosani, (both 73 kilograms), Sergiu Toma and Mihail Marchitan (90kg), Ivan Remarenco (100kg), Ahmed Al Naqbi (60kg), Musabah Al Shamsi and Ahmed Al Hosani (66kg)
Women’s draw: Maitha Al Neyadi (57kg)
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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