JEDDAH, 19 June — A ‘beat the summer’ campaign has been launched with an eye on families planning vacations during the current holiday season.
The campaign was jointly announced by American Express Travel Services (AETS) and Oman Air to help vacationers “beat the summer with ‘Khareef’ in Salalah,” at a meeting held at the AETS office at Hera’a International Mall on Saturday.
Attending the meeting were senior AETS executives including Director of Finance Sushil Bahl, Country Manager Shaji Nihal and Director Marketing Ashfaq Aleem Ahmad, and Oman Air’s Director Commercial & Strategic Planning Edward Grauvogl and Jeddah-based Country Manager Jamal Al-Harthy. A weekly draw every Thursday night at 10 p.m. at the Hera’a International Mall during the campaign lasting until July end will decide winners of air tickets and consolation prizes.
Oman, which recently won the ‘cleanest city in the world’ award from an international organization, is one of the most attractive travel destinations in the Middle East, a country that combines luxurious comfort and safety amid rugged mountains, panoramic beaches and striking landscapes. “There’s something for everyone in Oman. You can swim, scuba dive, or go sailing, fishing, camping in the mountains or on the beaches. You can watch bullfights or camel races or even ride a camel yourself. For the more adventurous, there’s rock climbing or cave exploring, camping out in the rocky wadis or the magnificent dunes of the Wahiba Sands, or exploring wild offshore islands. Moreover, there’s golf, and all the major hotels have pools, tennis and many other recreational sports,” an AETS executive said. Salalah, the largest city in southern Oman, has a unique charm with its coconut groves and banana plantations growing right to the water’s edge. Swimmers and sea lovers frequent its beautiful beaches of white sands. The rugged beauty of its fertile plains, fresh water springs, bustling souqs and tropical landscape will entice anyone, he added.
“While we’ve weekly two flights to Oman from Jeddah, we’ll be interested in increasing the frequency and also expanding the services to Riyadh and the Eastern Province in the future,” Grauvogl, told Arab News.
The airline, established in 1993, has 14 online destinations and a fleet of five aircraft, three of them jets.
Four new Boeing aircraft are to be added to the fleet, with the first one coming in December, followed by the others in January, April and July. “These smaller jets will change the economies of the airline. The idea is to increase the turnaround of the aircraft to serve a greater number of passengers and destinations. The airline, which suffered financial losses last year, is expected to break-even this year,” Grauvogl said, adding
Saudi Arabian Airlines operates once a week service to Muscat from Riyadh via Jeddah and Doha. Oman averages 600,000 arrivals a year, about 50,000 of them tourists.
Al-Harthy said Oman’s national airline was operating services to Indian cities of Trivandrum, Madras and Bombay, as well as Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Dhaka (Bangladesh).
Cochin in southern India would become online in a month’s time, he added. Its Gulf destinations include Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, aside from Jeddah.
The airline plans to resume its operations to Pakistan by 2003. It suspended services to Pakistani cities including Karachi and Peshawar in August last.
