Following my post about Oman last week, I read with interest Cheapflights.co.uk‘s press release today.

Stating: “Among the rising destinations of choice with Cheapflights.co.uk’s viewers is Muscat, Oman’s capital city which is fast becoming a hotspot for tourists.  Its nature, comprising mountains, lakes and long stretches of white sandy beach is stunning and offers a different holiday experience”

It would be hard to write a more misleading statement. Very few of the beaches around Muscat itself could be described as long stretches. Most are fairly short in their own coves or inlets. Officially,there are no lakes in Oman. There are Wadis, but these are different and most are some way out of Muscat. OK, there are mountains, I’ll just about give them that, but most of what most people would consider to be mountains are around 100 miles from Muscat itself, where the terrain is rugged and, at a stretch, “mountainous”.

But perhaps worse is the whole gist of the piece, which is you get better bargains if you travel to places like Oman because the pound is stronger. This time last year £1 would get you 0.75 Omani Rials, now it is 0.55.  So in effect the pound has dropped against the rial at about exactly the same rate as the Euro. The article compares the price of a taxi and a beer in Barcelona and Dubai. Yes, it’s cheaper in Dubai for some things, but to claim it is because the pound is stronger over there is just wrong.

Another article  about Oman in The Western saying how fabulous it is.

Oman certainly is fabulous and does well in garnering column inches. But where does it go from here? It sees a day when the oil will run out and sees travel as a way of filling some of the income gap. However, speaking to hoteliers in Oman there just aren’t enough beds at the moment. There are some nice hotels but there aren’t many of the beach front hotels that mass tourism demands.  The topography and infrastructure doesn’t offer many immediate solutions, the Al Bustan Palace had to move a village to find its site. Will it build into the see like Dubai?

The problem is when a site is created it ends up in monsters like the Shangri-La which is a shame. It  would be nice to see Oman develop itself as Dubai’s older, classier brother, a destination for those  who find Dubai too brash.