The Musandam Peninsula of Oman juts out into the Strait of Hormuz. Its pristine, jagged peaks and red rock cliffs breathtaking to any tourist, which are, for now, few and far between. Khasab, an eclectic port, is the peninsula’s largest town and capital, with about 19,000 residents. With three hotels, it’s also the closest thing to a tourist hub. In town, the bustling exchange of food and cloths may seem like a flashback to more historical times. Modernism has yet to overtake this seemingly preserved location. They are in danger, however, as some residents say. Cranes as big as the ones in Dubai sit on the horizon. Prospective businessmen in Western style clothing visit on a daily basis, and survey the beauty of the land and the clear water it sits on. For Muscat, Oman’s capital, there is hope for the country; in the unrelenting form of tourism. Other neighboring regions have been exposed already, including a majority of the major cities in the U.A.E. and Oman is doing everything it can to bring in foreign investors.
Once you have seen Khasab, you will surely be convinced of its potential. The town is currently free of tourist shops that plague other port towns of Oman, but that may soon change. The promise that the Omani government is banking on is Khasab’s proximity to the region’s current center of commerce and tourism. Dubai is just a two hour drive south of the port city, and with roads being paved and flights linking the two locations, more and more tourists are now beginning to look elsewhere for a unique escape. While the residents may not approve of the impending influx of investment, it will surely bring a tremendous flow of crisp capital to the local economy.
For now, Khasab is preserved as the sole seacoast gem of Northern Oman, but it will soon transform into the “Dubai escape of the North.” It will be very interesting to monitor the economic transformation of this tiny town, which will surely set the course for future endeavors in the slowly expanding nation of Oman. This is just a piece of the trend that will engulf the coast, and bring the world to this region.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The unique geographical position of the Musandam peninsula of Oman makes it very interesting for tourism, and other reasons. If you look at the map, more than 95% of Oman lies to the southeast of UAE (and to the East of Saudi Arabia). But the tiny Musandam peninsula, unconnected with the mainland of Oman, juts out into the Persian Gulf, northeast of UAE and less than two hours by road from the mega-city of Dubai. The road passes through spectacular sand dunes, popular for dune-bashing and all-terrain vehicle rides. I can visualize tourist itineraries where one spends a day on the dune-riding adventures on the hot sands and then chills out in the night and the next day on the beaches of the Musandam peninsula.
Nik Dholakia
University of Rhode Island
Post a Comment