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Oman Ministry announces new preventive measures for tourists and travel businesses.
30 June 2020
| Last updated on 1 July 2020
Travel and tourism offices, as well as tourists, must follow these health and safety measures.
The Oman Ministry of Tourism has released a guide of preventive measures that must be followed in all travel and tourism offices.
The guide was announced in an aim to provide personal protection for all workers in travel and tourism offices, tour operators, tourist transport activities, tour guides and tourist groups to achieve a balance of normal life and the continuation of precautionary measures.
"The Ministry, in implementing the decisions to reopen travel and tourism offices issued by the Supreme Committee in charge to deal with the COVID-19, has released a guide of preventive measures to be followed in travel and tourism offices, which includes a number of preventive instructions that those in charge of such offices must follow," the official statement said.
Preventive measures for workers
New precautionary measures for travel and tourism employees within the office include:
- Training staff in customer interaction procedures.
- Training employees in virus prevention such as physical distancing, office and self-sanitisation, and wearing personal protective equipment like face masks and gloves.
- Offices must have a sustainable provision of hygiene, such as hand sanitiser stations.
- Offices must have signs on site to remind everyone of the precaution measures to follow.
Preventive measures for tourists
Precautionary measures before the arrival of the tourist include:
- Requesting the customer to get a medical certificate.
- Keep bookings online and avoid paper documents.
- Ensure that all tourists will have health insurance before completing their bookings.
The Ministry of Tourism has also recommended for tourism and travel offices to organise trips in small groups that do not exceed 15 people.
Oman continues to resume economic activities
A virtual meeting was held by the Ministry of Tourism on June 29, headed by His Excellency Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrizi, Minister of Tourism, and in the presence of His Excellency Qais Al Youssef, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).
The meeting discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local travel and tourism companies, the challenges being faced, and their commitment to the precautionary measures.
During His Excellency's speech, he mentioned that the "the meeting comes in light of the Sultanate’s keenness to restart the work in various economic sectors, especially the tourism sector."
"The travel and tourism companies are one of the pillars of this sector, without which we cannot provide integrated products to tourists," he added.
His Excellency Qais Al Youssef, Chairman of OCCI, confirmed that "the Ministry of Tourism is playing an active role by communicating with partners in the sector to find solutions to get out of this crisis, dealing with the expected effects, granting incentives and facilities to the sector, and raising these proposals to the Supreme Committee in charge to deal with COVID-19."
Al Youssef continued, "It is important in the coming period to know when the travel movement will open in order for the travel and tourism companies to lay out their plans and programmes, and support must be provided to local travel and tourism companies operating in the Sultanate by hotel establishments compared to the incentives offered to international travel companies."
As the tourism sector was one of the greatly affected sectors in Oman and around the world, the Ministry plans to continue supporting the travel industry in cooperation with relevant authorities.
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