Oman Signed 36 Tourism Deals in 9 Months. Here Are the Projects Actually Getting Built.

The cranes are not just in Muscat anymore. From the mountains of Ad-Dakhiliyah to the fjords of Musandam and the coast of Dhofar, Oman's tourism pipeline is mid-construction in the most literal sense. Thirty-six official development contracts were signed in nine months in 2025. Global hotel brands that have never operated in Oman before are now confirming build dates. And the sector just posted RO 2.28 billion in annual output, its highest on record.

36 Contracts in 9 Months

In October 2025, Oman News Agency confirmed that the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism had signed 36 usufruct agreements with private investors from January through September 2025. Combined committed investment across those contracts: RO 100 million, spread across multiple governorates.

These are not letters of intent. Usufruct contracts give developers the legal right to build and operate on government land under defined conditions, a meaningful threshold in a country where much of the coastline and mountain terrain most attractive for tourism is state-owned. Signing 36 in nine months is among the fastest public contract rates the ministry has publicly recorded.

The distribution matters. Four projects are in Muscat, including two luxury camps in Quriyat and developments on Jabal Akhdar. Ten projects are in Ad-Dakhiliyah, home to the Hajar mountain range. Musandam signed one contract for an integrated tourism complex in Khasab. Dhofar signed two contracts, including a major integrated tourism complex in the Junuf area near Salalah backed by Al-Wathba Hospitality, with a committed investment of RO 80 million and a 124-room five-star hotel plus a marina. Phase 1 is targeted for delivery within 30 months of signing.

8 Named Projects on the Map

Beyond the ministry's contract batch, Omran Group, the state-owned tourism development vehicle, announced its own confirmed pipeline at its 20th anniversary event in September 2025. At least eight named projects are in active development as of mid-2026:

• Club Med Musandam, Musandam: The GCC's first Club Med resort, financed to 90 million euros by an Omran-led consortium. Construction begins 2026, opening targeted for 2028. Around 1,000 workers will be employed across construction phases before a single guest checks in.
• The Sustainable City, Yiti, Muscat: 96 percent of infrastructure works complete as of September 2025. Net-zero energy design. Phase 1 handover approaching.
• TUI Hotels Cluster, Dhofar: Five hotels under leading TUI brands, signed with Omran in September 2025. Opening targeted from winter 2028.
• Nobu Hotel and Residences, Yiti, Muscat: Luxury resort and branded residential units under Nobu Hospitality, confirmed within the Yiti master development.
• Salalah Junuf ITC, Dhofar: The RO 80 million Al-Wathba project, with a five-star hotel and marina, under active development.
• Al Bustan ITC, Muscat: Signed March 2026. A 200-room upscale hotel, branded residences, and a marina in the capital.
• Santani Jabal Shams Resort, Ad-Dakhiliyah: Luxury wellness resort on Oman's highest accessible peak, under active development.
• Alie Nivas Musandam Resort, Musandam: Premium hospitality on the Musandam peninsula, confirmed by Omran as part of the September 2025 announcement.

For a broader picture of how Vision 2040 measures delivery across all programs and sectors, the progress indicators dashboard tracks macro outcomes from economic diversification to social development.

What the Sector Looks Like Today

Oman's tourism output hit RO 2.28 billion in 2025, up 7.8 percent on 2024 (Emerging Travel News, citing official sector data). The sector contributed roughly 3 percent of GDP in Q4 2025, up from 2.7 percent in the first nine months. Vision 2040 sets a 5.3 percent GDP contribution target by 2040. The pipeline described above is the mechanism for closing that gap.

Hotel performance confirms the demand is real. Revenues reached $772 million in 2025, up more than 22 percent year-on-year. Guests at three-to-five-star hotels reached 2.4 million. Occupancy rose to 55.4 percent, up from 48.6 percent. European visitors grew 23 percent, the fastest segment by region. Emirati visitors led inbound arrivals at over 933,000 in the first ten months of 2025.

Oman added 900 hotel rooms in 2025, bringing total inventory to 36,800. A further 2,400 rooms are expected in 2026. This is measured, targeted expansion. As covered in the earlier Muscat-Dubai cost comparison, Oman's accommodation prices remain far below the UAE. That gap is both the competitive draw for international visitors and the reason private capital sees room to grow here before prices normalize.

Who Delivers This and How

Omran Group anchors the institutional pipeline: it structures deals, holds equity, and provides the frameworks that international brands build on. The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism manages the usufruct contract system that governs private-led development on state land. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the current implementation phase of Vision 2040, earmarks roughly RO 900 million annually in tourism investment alongside RO 400 million for broader economic transformation projects in the sector.

Why This Matters for Ordinary Omanis

If you live outside Muscat, this pipeline may be the most direct way Vision 2040 is arriving in your governorate in 2026 and 2027. Club Med in Khasab. Five TUI hotels in Dhofar. Wellness resorts on Jabal Shams. These are not luxury items built only for foreign tourists. They are job platforms: Club Med alone will employ around 1,000 workers during construction before opening, and each operating hotel creates a supply chain that runs deep into the community around it, from food and laundry to transport and guiding.

For young Omanis weighing a career in hospitality, the window right now is as open as it has been in a generation. Projects in the pipeline need staff years before they open: designers, project managers, procurement officers, and trainees moving through pre-opening programs.

For regular families, the expansion of tourism infrastructure outside the capital gradually makes domestic travel more practical and affordable. In two to three years, the choice of where to take your family for Eid or summer will look meaningfully different from today, because the hotels and resorts being contracted right now will be open.