Situation
We launched Oman as a leisure destination in India in 2010 with Lubaina Sheerazi at the helm as the India Representative up until 2019. The mandate was to bring the country to the forefront by creating general awareness amongst key agents, travel partners and promote the destination to end consumers.
Challenge
Oman was practically unknown as a tourist destination. Europe being the primary source market for inbound arrivals, there was limited focus on India as its travel potential was embryonic. Also, owing to unfamiliarity and inexperience, the destination faced skepticism from travel agents/tour operators.
Strategy
The core strategy was to retain the natural Arabian character of Oman to differentiate it from other man-made and mass tourism destinations in the Gulf. Based on this, a market growth strategy was formulated including positioning, target markets, trade & consumer marketing, and a phased implementation strategy with budgets and time frames.
Action
Successfully launched a campaign for Oman with limited budgets spent judiciously by expanding presence within India. Approach was segmented to encompass the travel trade fraternity and media while also building strong consumer relationships. Focused on hosting fam trips, webinars to attract the MICE sector. Effectively marketed Oman as one of the most sought-after ‘Destination Wedding’ locations and identified the potential of the “celebrations” segment and successfully facilitated more than 25 Indian weddings in Oman. Another milestone was achieved with the launch of Oman’s global advertising campaign in 2017 which opened doors for positioning Oman as the perfect background for Bollywood movies and songs. In due course, India moved up to become the second highest source market for the Ministry.
Outcome
The year-on-year growth of arrival numbers for Oman has been considerable, in 2019 the destination closed with over 435,000 visitors from India (which is now the top 2nd source market for Oman after GCC market). We have been instrumental in the perception change of Oman through committed trade engagement in the metro, tier 1, and tier 2 cities of India and launching multiple itineraries for the destination. Catering primarily to evolved travelers, the destination now sees a regular inflow of tourists of various segments who easily spend 5-7 days exploring different terrains of Oman (with a spend equivalent to a short vacation in Europe for Indians). Achieving this paradigm shift has been the biggest outcome of our efforts for the destination over the years.
