Omani, French experts share views on ways to increase healthy tourism

More than 80 attendees from the industry and others listened to Omani and French panelists on how to grow a strong, safe, respectful and employment rich tourism industry in Oman at an event hosted by OFA.

The interesting event titled ‘Tourism in Oman – Global Adventure’ was hosted by OFA recently at Al Bustan Palace Hotel under the auspices of Veronique Aulagnon, Ambassador of France to the Sultanate of Oman.

The event started with the OFA coordinator speech explaining about the real interest of such an event on Adventure tourism discussion gathering many different actors together to have a global view on the subject. Marie Elicagaray thanked all the sponsors who were a part of the project: Oman Air, Oman Automobile Association, Al Bustan Palace, JCDecaux and Marvelous World Travel.

The French pro athletes’ team presented the video they produced since they arrived on 9th December exploring the incredible sites for mountain biking in Oman. This was then followed by a panel of discussions moderated by Mohana Prabhakar.

The panel focused on how to match the potential of outdoor activities in Oman with expertise from France. The first panelist, Thomas Manfe, Project Manager of Sidekick (France), spoke about how outdoors activities can be developed as an asset for Oman tourism, connecting them with big brand and adventure industry abroad.

Then Ludovic Henry, Technical Director, Velo Concept (France), who was attending the meeting online explained how activities that tourists are looking for have changed in France and what are the options that are possible to offer in France that could also be adopted in Oman. Khaled Abdul Malak, surgeon and explorer, continued the panel showing how makes Oman’s landscape unique when it comes to developing it as an adventure sports destination.