OMAN’S Al Bustan Palace InterContinental Muscat expects 2006 to be a banner year for the Sultanate, says a spokesman.
“As the country emerges on the tourism map, we anticipate increased numbers of leisure and business tourists from around the Gulf and Western Europe, particularly Germany, Switzerland and the UK. This is in line with the developments in tourism that are being implemented by Oman’s very own ministry of Tourism,” says the spokesman.
In 2005 and the first quarter of 2006 the Al Bustan Palace has hosted to an increasing amount of corporate groups and incentive groups, he says. “Corporate groups and businesses as well as incentive houses are beginning to identify the Sultanate’s potential and the novelty of these emergences will soon become a permanent and important segment of the market,” he says.
The hotel caters for all generations and expectations and is well-known as a five star hotel among leisure tourists escaping the European cold winters as well as being famed for being the ideal meeting point with all its extravagance and luxury. Oman’s residents, too, enjoy a weekend stay at the Al Bustan Palace to escape from their daily routines and indulge in some serious luxury and pampering.
The partially government-owned hotel is part of the InterContinental Hotels Group, the preferred hotel brand of the world’s business community for more than 50 years. It is located only eight kilometres from the central business district of Ruwi and is concealed within its own bay and boasts a privately owned beach along the Arabian seafront with a striking mountainous backdrop.
“Muscat has hosted a variety of conferences and the Al Bustan Palace InterContinental Muscat remains the first choice amongst heads of state and high-profile gatherings,” says the spokesman.
The Al Bustan Palace has unrivalled conferencing capabilities that offer a superb range of multifunction venues, from intimate or informal gatherings, through lecture halls, reception rooms and banqueting chambers. A full range of equipment and services for banqueting and conferencing is on hand, with secretarial provision and personalised assistance. “It is the only hotel in the Sultanate that provides its executive business clients with a complete video conference meeting room of the highest professional standard. It is equipped with German made professional Tandberg cameras that transmit clear sharp and colour TV quality imaging,” he says.
The business centre meeting room has two fixed cameras and two all-in-one portable cameras that can be set up anywhere in the five star hotel. Professional ‘studio’ lighting and remote control camera with voice tracking system provide clients with the finest video conference facilities. These facilities are available 24 hours a day from the business centre. Additionally, the entire hotel has network coverage with sockets for high speed internet connection and video conference meetings can be arranged everywhere in the hotel.