Paying attention and attaching interest to tourist media in Oman are as important as caring about tourism sector itself, particularly at the present time when media has become the tool that attracts the attention of the general public. That is because of the great importance of media at demonstrating the natural and cultural potentials of countries all over the world, marketing and promoting tourism. This is what many governments are working on now.
A training course in tourist media was organised by the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with Oman Journalist Association, Federation of Arab Journalists and Arab Tourism Organisation to enhance this attitude in the Sultanate. The course laid stress on the future requirements of the tourism sector such as more government focus on developing the sector in the Sultanate as one of the main national economic resources through which we can generate a variety of income sources and develop non-oil renewable
resources.
There is no doubt that the specialised tourist media is acting as the drive for all tourism sectors all around the world. Any time the attention given to tourist media is methodological and scientific, the gains are great: deep understanding of tourism potentials and better methods by which these potential are presented to the whole world in a fantastic way that highlights the features, destinations, facilities and services available with a deep and clear vision.
This requires creating and establishing generations of media persons and journalists who can master writing for different media outlets about tourism. This training course and any other forums, seminars and meetings are a good start and an admirable move taken by the concerned competent authorities and parties to intensify interest given to this aspect, consistent with other aspects aiming to develop tourism sector in the Sultanate in order to make it at a level that can satisfy us all. Our country has been blessed by touristic potentials not available for most countries all over the world.
The exceptional phenomena of the participation of more than sixty journalists in the Governorate of Dhofar, which is witnessing unusual tourist season, as one of the events held on the occasion of choosing Muscat as the capital of Arab tourism for the current year, doesn't aim only to train the participants in tourist media, but also to give the Arab journalists and media person knowledge about what our country has by way of tourist attractions and potential, especially in the Governorate of Dhofar. In this wonderful season efforts are under way by the competent authorities to promote tourism and put the Sultanate in the right place on the world map of tourism.
Tourist media work, as any other specialised field of work, requires special tools and specialised knowledge of the concepts and types involved. The person who works for tourist media should have high-end writing style with general understanding of the secrets and tips of this kind of writing. Organising such courses with the participation of the Arab Tourism Organisation and the professional lecturers adds new concepts and dimensions to the tourist media in Oman.
This training course is the first step in a long and hard road to have specialised journalists and media persons to develop the tourist media in the Sultanate that will be able to reflect all the fascinating tourism potentials we have in our country.
We hope that every participant at this course benefit deeply from the applied and scientific inputs that aim to establish specialised tourist media. It is also a big chance for the colleagues from all media outlets to prepare for their role in the next stage which will gain great importance in light of this warm media flow from all sources.