Salalah Festival cancelled for third year in a row

Muscat: The government has decided to cancel Salalah Tourism Festival 2022, an official from the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism confirmed on Tuesday.
Speaking to Times of Oman, the official said that the festival will not be held this year for the third time in a row due to the COVID-19  pandemic.

“We will also limit the number of recreational activities and events at a number of tourist sites during the Khareef tourist season, which starts from June 21 till the end of August.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the tourism sector and related events and activities in the Sultanate since March 2020.

He said: “Approvals for the Salalah Festival are issued by the authorities concerned at the beginning of each year and due to the unfavourable epidemiological situation at the beginning of the year, the festival was cancelled, adding that “although some events and activities related to tourism have recently been restored with life returning to normal and cases of Corona infections coming down, we do not have time to restore the Salalah festival.”

The Dhofar Municipality, however, is working in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and other authorities concerned to revive the tourist season this year by organising some recreational activities for visitors at tourist sites.

Dhofar governorate witnesses a tourist influx as the governorate enjoys conducive weather during the summer months and also during the rains when the temperatures drop to less than 20 degrees Celsius with greenery around.

In 2019, the governorate of Dhofar had recorded more than 750,000 visitors from all over the world thus augmenting economic activities, including high hotel occupancy rates and increased sale of commodities.