Oman's Blue City: tourism and jobs

Like other GCC states, dark clouds of youth unemployment cast a shadow over Oman. The Sultanate is looking to Blue City to lead the way in attracting significant direct foreign investment as well as generate employment opportunities, as it realises it must diversify its economy from fossil fuels.

An estimated 30,000 young Omanis enter the job market every year, fuelling unemployment rates which currently run at around 20%. According to the most recent official statistics: in 2002, Oman had a population of over 2.5 million, comprising about 1.9 million Omanis, 43% of whom were under the age of 15.

Accusations of being too choosy cannot be levelled against Omanis, often found working in positions usually reserved for unskilled subcontinental expatriate workers in other GCC states. Omanisation is more advanced in certain sectors than nationalisation in other Gulf countries, with Omanis found driving taxis, working in hotels and as tourguides, and in shops and souqs.

Tourism and opportunities

Oman's government has identified the labour-intensive tourism sector as a way of relieving the growing unemployment problem. A separate Ministry of Tourism was established in 2004 to centralise all tourism-related activities.

Oman is more blessed that most of its neighbours with a range of tourism offerings. It has a wide and diverse landscape ranging from coastal, desert, mountain and even the lush subtropical climate of Salalah. A rich history has left ancient forts, mosques, towns and villages, all popular attractions for visitors. But the tourism sector is still relatively small.

Blue City aims to change all that, providing first class tourism facilities as well as developing a multi-disciplinary city on a total land mass of 34 square kilometres, home to around 200,000 people on completion.

Creating 32,000 jobs

The social objective of the Blue City project is that it will help to create thousands of jobs for the local community. Building of Phase One starts in Q4 2005, costing $1.8bn.

It will consist of three beach resort hotels, one golf resort hotel, one city beach resort and conference hotel - all operated by leading five-star brands. Developers predict the first phase alone will create 7,000 direct jobs and 25,000 indirect jobs.

HE Mohsin bin Khamis al Baloshi, undersecretary for tourism, promises that preference will be given to qualified Omanis 'as part of the campaign to develop the country's all-important human resources.'

'The Blue City project is one project that we at the Tourism Ministry are looking forward to because it fits into the objectives and goals of development plans that we have adapted within our Vision 2020 plan,' he says.

Besides its tourism components, Blue City will feature: educational and professional training facilities, healthcare and wellness centre, sports venues and a sports academy, a cruise ship harbour, marinas and a nautical institute. It is expected that investment in these sectors will generate massive employment opportunities for Oman and that Blue City will become a growth engine for the country's economic development.

Omanis are a traditional, hospitable people and it is easy to imagine them filling roles in what will be one of the Sultanate's most important future economic sectors, introducing future visitors to the true Arabian experience.