With the 2005 Muscat Festival slated to be bigger and better than ever before, Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, Kingdom of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi is giving residents of GCC countries a great opportunity to join in the fun.
As a main sponsor of the event, which runs to 18 February 2005, Gulf Air is offering a 50 per cent discount on all economy fares and 25 per cent off first and business class fares from Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Kuwait and Riyadh to Muscat.
Jaffar Juma, Gulf Air’s Manager for Oman said that the Muscat Festival has played a vital role in showcasing Omani culture and traditional treasures of the Sultanate. “As the national carrier of the Sultanate, we have long recognised that Oman has a great deal to offer tourists and events such as the Muscat Festival are crucial in establishing the country as a key Gulf destination,” said Jaffar Juma. “That is why we are putting our full weight behind the programme as a sponsor and a supporter, and we are confident that this very exciting offer will help swell the number of visitors to the country.”
Organised by the Muscat Municipality for the fourth consecutive year, the month-long event is being planned on a much bigger scale than in the past with more activities and new themes aimed at attracting a record turnout of visitors from both within the country and outside. More than 1.7 million visitors attended the Muscat Festival 2004, a new attendance record of which around half came from outside the country.
According to the organisers, the 2005 version of Oman’s biggest annual cultural and tourism extravaganza, will specifically aim at projecting the country’s ‘traditional treasures’ and provide a platform for interaction between local and foreign cultures. Attractions at the Qurum park will include the Gulf Heritage Village, an ‘ice circus’, which was a big hit last year, an amusement arcade, IT tent, ‘tropical environment show’, and Arabic music concerts. Every day there will be fireworks and laser shows, dance and music programmes, adult and children's plays. The park will also host the opening ceremony. The permanent and newly-built Festival Plaza at Azaiba will feature an international trade fair, exhibitions of Omani products and handicrafts, an amusement park and skills and talents shows. At Seeb beach, there will be a children’s entertainment village, car and motor cycle shows, wrestling competitions, military show, traditional marine village, boat racing, police dog show, jet skiing, soccer competition for expatriate communities and sword fighting. The Press Club in Qurum and the Shariah and Law College in Wattayeh will host cultural seminars and workshops as well as art exhibitions.
