DHOFAR

The traditional land of frankincense Today one of the spearheads of the Omani economy

Dhofar. even the name is filled with a sense of magic, old and new. It conjures up the smell of frankincense, the long caravans that stretched across Arabia on their way to the great civilizations of antiquity and the vocation for trade and exchange that has always been a prerogative of the Sultanate of Oman.
Nowadays, Dhofar is at the heart of one of the major economic transformations undertaken by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said to take his country into the third millennium.
Over the last 30 years and thanks to the oil revenue, Oman has been totally transformed, bursting forward with new life. In 1970, after his father's abdication, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said first words were: / promise a new dawn is rising over Oman, bringing a new life to its people and making them believe in the future. The promise was upheld erasing seven decades of isolation during which Oman had missed out on the changes of the modern world. He has helped both young and old to adapt to a world that was 70 to 80 years ahead, returning their pride, dignity, audacity, giving them a taste for beauty and quality and a sense of responsibility. He taught them again how to respect each other, their traditions and their culture. He has built new cities and villages, schools and universities. He is constantly visiting his country's wilayats to listen to his people and give them heart.
The Omani businessmen of today have the same curiosity their forefathers had. They were the captains and merchants who faced the seas and the storms to trade with the greatest civilisations of antiquity (Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Persia...) charting the trading routes to Asia and Africa. The Omani ports have always been great ports of call for ships sailing from the Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, China and Africa.

Today Salalah is rewriting Oman's seafaring history

Port Salalah with its large container terminal has been conceived as a transshipment hub where goods are moved from a mother ship to feeder vessels which will distribute them to other regional ports. It has given back to Salalah its original vocation as a port of call and a turning platform for the Middle East, the countries of the Indian Ocean and East Africa...Port Salalah aims to become the meeting point of East and West. Salalah is located in the deep sea shipping lanes of the Middle-East, Indian, East African, Far Eastern, Asian, European and Autralian subcontinents.
This objective is not lacking in audacity as it is of course shared by other ports in the area. However Salalah has several advantages. First, its geographical situation on the Indian Ocean just outside the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, so politically sensitive in recent years, and where traffic is increasing with Dubai, Jebel Alt and other oil-exporting ports. Together with its state of the art facilities it allows large containers to gain several days on their rotation. And last but not least, Oman's great political stability brings a significant asset in the present context.
Thanks to its port, Salalah will become in the next few years one of the world's top ten transshipment hubs and will of course play a considerable role in the Omani economy. This illustrates perfectly the policy followed by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said in recent years to make his country less dependent on oil. Diversification, privatisation and autonomy are not just words brandished about, they are a reality implemented by the Sultan all over Oman to insure the economic future of his country on the threshold of the 21st century. He is aware that the oil reserves, although greater than expected, will no longer be sufficient to support the country. He wants to draw on the country's other natural resources as well as on the wonderful potential the Omani themselves represent. He has invested energy and capital in large scale projects, such as the LNG project with the gas liquefaction plant at Sur, a petrochemical and aluminium factory at Sohar, Port Salalah, the industrial estates in many areas of Oman where he has strongly encouraged the Omani to invest in new companies or joint-ventures.
Today, Oman is looking at Salalah and at the key part played by Dhofar in His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said's economic policy. The port will have a downstream effect with the establishment of a Free Trade Zone, the development of the industrial estate where major industries are already present (cement and flour mills) perfectly aware of the possibilities offered by the port to access the Indian subcontinent, Africa and South East Asia.
New jobs for Omanis, a first class network of roads, a larger airport, soon to become international, major tourism development projects (4 and 5 star hotels, resorts..) Dhofar is on the move and has pride of place. It is a wonderful opportunity to rediscover this ancient land where tradition is such an integral part of the country, like the mountains and the desert, that it can never be overshadowed by the modern world.

Dhofar has so much to offer Its hospitality is warm and true, its beauty original and genuine.

For several years Dhofar has been the chosen destination of many tourists from the Gulf area during the monsoon season. Between the end of June and the beginning of October, when temperatures are soaring in the Arabian Peninsula, it is the season of rain and mist in Dhofar. Although very humid, the temperatures are a pleasant 23 to 25°, the landscape is a lush green, the water flows from a thousand springs and cascades in fans, a sight worthy of the tales of A Thousand and One Nights or Sindbad the Sailor...
In the boughs, I hear God's whisper and life's jingle The water trickles over there and flowing from this mystical spring the wise and rustling soul of the landscape R.E Hart
Foreign visitors are coming in greater numbers throughout the year. During a visit to Oman, they reserve a few days to Dhofar attracted by its mythical past, those mysterious frankincense caravans that crossed Arabia, from Dhofar to Yemen. They are surprised to discover the infinite variety of landscapes: wonderful beaches, dazzling white, luxuriant tropical gardens, lagoons (khawrs), unspoilt and timeless coves, villages and houses with their original, authentic and beautiful architecture, mountains where the Jabalis breed their herds in their unmovable way...Beyond the mountains, lies Rub Al Khali, a desert of stones and sand, huge, empty foreboding but beautiful and breathtaking where the Bedouins live.
All those who have read Arabian Sands must remember the harshness of the life of the nomads who travelled from watering hole to watering hole with their camels and goats. Sheltering under their huge brown tents and needing very little to survive. They lived in close-knit communities that followed the rules of Islam.
W. Thesiger who on several occasions crossed the Empty Quarter with the Bedouins wrote that they had a noble quality he had not met anywhere else, they were generous to a fault, courageous, enduring, patient and good umoured...They had chosen to live their life in the desert because it gave them their freedom. Many of them have now settled near the watering holes where the Sultan has had houses built for them. And although they move around in pick up trucks, or in four wheel drive they still breed camels and goats and have kept the same sense of hospitality and the pride so characteristic of their ancestors.
We invite you to discover this surprising country and meet its people. It is one of the facets of Oman, astounding, both ancient and modern, as concerned with keeping its traditions as with finding its place in the 21s' century: a quality, a quest that anyone can understand and respect.