OMAN - Tourism
General Manager, Dusit D2 Naseem Resort
Bio
Gerhard Stutz is General Manager of
Dusit D2 Naseem Resort.
The hotel opened exactly one year ago. It is a different kind of facility as we are at Adventure Park, the only adventure resort in Oman. We have 252 rooms, and are a family resort. We have two large competitors that are extremely expensive. Besides the adventure park for families, we have a pool and two restaurants. We also have a children’s playground. The resort is 75,000sqm and completely enclosed. We build our experience on several pillars: sustainability, wellness, and local experience. The facility also has its own clinic and pharmacy. We also have our own vegetable garden. The resort has over 150 fruit trees, including pear, apple, fig, and pomegranate, among others. We are looking at how passionfruit and grapes might be grown here, all to enhance the family experience.
We work with the local community. We organize tours in Jabal Akhdar to the caves, rose water plantations, as well as olive and fruit picking. Recently, I had dinner with our founders from Jabal Akhdar and we are in the midst of working with a farmer that we will hire. We will start an agriculture project for the first time to grow coffee here in Jabal Akhdar. We work heavily with the local community. You can buy frankincense and rose water from the farmer. Meanwhile, the local olive oil recently won an award. As the fruit season starts, all the amenities that we give to customers will include local fruits. Over the years when we met with the farmers, they would tell us of the problem of water availability with plants drying out and trees cracking. We are working now together with Water Oman to address this matter. We are working with the local farmers to install a pipe running from the hotel to the village to supply discarded water for them to water their plants.
When you come to the mountains, you ask what is going to set us apart? Building another hotel is not just about having another hotel around the corner. We definitely needed a hotel where there are activities for families. I think that is where the adventure park idea came from. We have facilities where kids can play soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Therefore, when you come with your children and family, each age group has something to do. For the parents, we have a full service Thai spa. All these make this hotel unique. There is really something for everyone here. Kids determine where the families are going to go for vacation. The parents can go for the mountain hike in cooler temperatures while children also have their activities. With this being said, we wanted to make sure that we were creating this unique experience for families.
We have seen tourists returning and increasing in number, which is excellent. A hotel always needs a mixture of people. After this pandemic, we are trying to bring Oman back to the tourism industry. It takes time to remind people again. Oman has a lot to offer in other areas. Active advertising for tourism is important. The Dusit has hotels in the Middle East, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We work closely with our sales offices at the other Middle East hotels. In Oman, our main market is the Gulf countries and the local market. About 80% of our guests come from Oman. We also see guests from Italy, German, France, and the UK. They are big supporters of the mountains in Oman.
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