Monday 07 / July / 2025
Muscat: Local entrepreneurs need a strong support from the state-run organisations to help them survive in the tourism business as the government gears up for the 2040 Economic Vision.
There is an increasing number of young Omanis who are embarking in the tourism businesses ranging from trekking, hiking, camping and general tours. One of them is Nooralhuda Al-Mandhari and her partner Wisal Al-Rashdi, who own and manage a tourism company registered as HUN’na.
“Young Omani entrepreneurs need more support from all government organisations to make local tourism business a success. For example, we face problems when we register our business and there are so many hurdles there,” Wisal Al-Rashdi told Times of Oman. While Nooralhuda said that the costs to manage business operations are high and for a small business, that takes a lot of financial strain.
“We organised adventures for women athletes who are engaging in all sports all over Oman. At the same we have a scheme called Ghudu, which is a tourism project in which we take people to Dhofar to experience the way of life there,” Nooralhuda, said.
The word Ghudu means “lets go” in the local jabali (shehri) language and Nooralhuda and Wisal chose it to honour the people and the culture of Dhofar.
They travel at least ten times in a year to Dhofar from one end to another to meet the local people to get to know their way of life.
The first they were in Dhofar, they fell in love with the culture, uniqueness of the people and their heritage.
Both Nooralhuda and her partner Wisal helped Suhaila Al Kindi to promote her 1,500 kms walk from Muscat to Dhofar to raise environmental awareness in 2020. They also promoted in social media Anisa Al Raisi who crossed Oman in a straight line along with Major Natalie Taylor from the United Kingdom for 50 days to celebrate Oman’s 50th National Day.
In the National Tourism Strategy unveiled by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism last year, Oman is targeting 12 million tourists per year by 2040.
The Sultanate also wants to create over 500,000 jobs by 2040 in the tourism sector.
“Oman is a beautiful country. It has diversity spread in different regions. We need to promote it more but most importantly, support for young entrepreneurs, which is essential to reach the targets of the 2040 Economic Vision,” Nooralhuda pleaded.
