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Oman’s tortoise to Dubai’s hare - Ubar Luxury Travel

Oman’s tortoise to Dubai’s hare

When people visit Oman it is often their second visit to the Gulf, the first being to Dubai or in transit through Doha, Bahrain or Abu Dhabi. They are likely to notice that the pace of life in Oman is slower than what they have experienced elsewhere and that it has retained more of a traditional way of life. The lack of shiny new skyscrapers is the most obvious example of how Oman has kept a firm hold of its heritage while others have jumped to embrace all things new.

The reality is inevitably not as clear cut as Oman is slow and Dubai is fast or that Oman has lots of tradition and Dubai has none. In fact, much of Oman’s history is a history that is shared across many of the Gulf States. The infamous treks of Bertram Thomas, John St Philby and Wilfred Thesiger through the Empty Quarter encompassed parts of what are now Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain. When Thesiger arrived on the northern coast of the Gulf, he was careful to avoid the Maktoum tribe which was at the time warring against neighbouring Abu Dhabi.

Similarly, when it comes to trade, development and investment, there is a strong flow of funds from the UAE into Oman and vice versa. The large UAE groups such as Majid Al Futtaim have invested heavily in Omani real estate.

So on one level, the observations are purely architectural; it is far harder to receive planning permission for tall buildings in Oman. However there is a persistent feeling that Omanis take time to make a decision and this is the underlying reason for development in Oman being that much slower than elsewhere. While working for a large consultancy firm in Oman, I dealt with the bureaucracy of government ministries and the lack of empowerment in the lower ranks which meant that any decision above stationary orders had to be made by the minister personally. The lack of empowerment and super-saturated payrolls is not unique, either. Many similar countries stay unemployment by inventing positions in government entities. This results in poor chains of communication and inappropriately staffed departments which in turn slows simple processes to months of waiting.



Oman has an additional characteristic that results in the differences. Government approaches decision making as a form of consensus building that requires committees and sub-committees to see the problem or task from every conceivable angle. This on the whole means that, while it does take a while to decide, the actual decision is likely to be rather sensible. For example, there has been vast expenditure to upgrade and expand the road network. In contrast to Dubai building roads to get to artificial islands that are for sale to foreigners as second homes, Oman has built roads that serve the population such as the coastal highway between Muscat and Sur.

There are naturally decisions that do not fit this mould. A good example is the ferries that were recently procured at astronomical cost by the government. They now form a network of sea links joining the coast from Salalah in the south to Khasab in the north. It is just unfortunate that the demand and supply analysis was not performed before the orders were placed. There was no real need for these ferries and, what is more, some of the ports at which the ferries are supposed to dock do not have sufficient facilities to load and unload cars.

There are around 25 plans at various stages of development to build large tourism and residential communities fanning out along the coast from Muscat. The recent events in Dubai are probably a godsend to curb enthusiasm for copy cat behaviour in Oman. It is going to be harder for Dubai’s neighbours to raise finance as a result and hopefully people here will pay attention to the turmoil and keep their feet strongly rooted on the ground.

Ubar Luxury Travel

Eric is based in Oman and runs luxury travel business Ubar Luxury Travel

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