Emma’s Guide to Visiting Oman in 2024

Oman is a country really close to our hearts here at HA. Here’s Emma, one of our brilliant experts in all things Oman, to help explain why visiting Oman in 2024 is a great idea. 

While we’d argue that an Oman holiday is always a good choice, here’s why visiting Oman in 2024 will be extra special.

Oman is one of the first countries we set up here at Holiday Architects, way back in 2012.

It helps that both our CEO and General Manager grew up in Oman, and since then hooked myself and fellow Oman specialist Catherine into falling head over heels with this Middle Eastern gem too.

It’s an easy country to love, of course – the fantastic combination of city, mountains, desert and coast can all be covered in as little as nine or 10 days in Oman.

What’s more, the manageable flight time of seven to eight hours allows you to be transported to Arabia relatively quickly (if only it was on a magic carpet to really seal the deal!)

A plethora of new hotels

They’ve been busy bees over in Oman during and since the pandemic, and visiting Oman in 2024 will give you a real chance to enjoy the fruits of this labour.

Not only are there some major players opening properties in Muscat – a stunning new Mandarin Oriental in central Muscat, and a decadent St Regis property opening in the Al Mouj area, both perfect for you 5* luxury travellers – we also have the local Sama Resorts brand expanding through the country as well. They’ve opened up new heritage and local-style hotels recently, a couple of our favourites being in the Hajar Mountains, an area we recommend all clients travel to as it gives you a dose of the real Oman.

Small, boutique-style hotels are not easy to find on your Oman holiday, so these give more options for those who like character (and we know so many HA clients do!)

It still maintains (relatively) low tourist numbers

It’s a simple fact that Oman is a country that not that many people think to travel to (despite us having sent thousands of happy clients there over the last decade!)

Considering that almost nowhere on the planet feels undiscovered nowadays, it’s quite amazing how Oman manages to cling to that unexplored feel. Quick stat attack to prove it: looking at pre-pandemic numbers, Oman welcomed just under four million people to their country in 2019, compared to a whopping 16.5 million tourists heading to Dubai alone that same year.

It is so incredibly unspoilt, and with that extremely safe – Oman is proudly a very neutral place, not to be clumped with some of the more turbulent Middle Eastern countries.

From my point of view as an Oman specialist of six years, I feel it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world cottons on to Oman being the perfect winter sun and safe destination, so go while you can! And have those gorgeous sand dunes and beaches (nearly) all to yourself.

Better flight prices and new routes

Anyone who tried to go abroad, particularly long-haul, after the pandemic will have likely fallen off their chairs looking at flight prices. The airlines showed no mercy after their losses during the coronavirus crisis, but it is with great joy that I can say we are back down to pre-pandemic prices again! That means if you time it right (with plenty of notice to your specialist!) you could be looking at a direct return flight to Oman for around half the price of flights back in 2021 and 2022.

There are also a few more options on indirect routes now, including outbound day flights with Gulf Air via Bahrain, an option that sprung up late this year and runs through 2024. You also have more timing and pricing options than ever before with other carriers such as Emirates, Qatar and Etihad.

We have some fantastic last-minute Oman options for January and February 2024, so if you want to book in that winter sun holiday, get in touch with our Oman specialists Emma or Catherine today.