Oman's Ministry of Tourism took part in the Seatrade Cruise Global 2017 - a marine tourism exhibition and conference, held in Miami, US from March 13-16.

This major event is considered the biggest international forum for cruise tourism around the world with a participation of more than 700 international organizations from the tourism sector.

The event’s program included an official meeting, a conference, meetings, an exhibition, media interviews, and the signing of MoUs and agreements.

The sultanate has always been keen to participate in the Seatrade exhibition since 2005 as it is the most awaited international cruise tourism event in the world, bringing under its roof a number of decision makers, investors, services manufacturers and providers. Not only that, the Seatrade Cruise Global is known as an ideal platform to measure growth indicators in the tourism markets annually around the world.

The sultanate’s participation in it is of a huge importance, as it is here that the Ministry of Tourism gets the opportunity to promote Oman as a perfect tourism destination, and stay up-to-date regarding the latest products and services in the tourism industry.

The Ministry’s participation this year also comes as part of Cruise Arabia team which gathers the ministries and organizations responsible for the tourism sector in the GCC. The team was formed with the aim of promoting tourism in the GCC and facilitating procedures of developing the industry in the region. It is noteworthy that the strategic promotions between the GCC countries are integrative, as all ports are linked through the same tourism market.

Recently, Oman has been witnessing a steady growth in the cruise tourism industry due to the promotional and developmental efforts. Oman has three main ports that are attracting tourists from all around the world which are Sultan Qaboos port, Khasab Port, and Salalah Port. According to the latest statistics, the number of tourists visiting the sultanate through cruises had reached more than 217,000 visitors in the previous season 2015\2016 compared to 148,000 visitors in 2014\2015, with a growth of 47 per cent. - TradeArabia News Service