After careful evaluation, the committee has chosen Oman as the winner in the category:

Seaside Destination

The government of the Sultanate of Oman counts on tourism today to diversify its sources of incomes. In order to face the new success, the Sultanate of Oman is developing its touristic plans and its hotel capacity.
The regions of Muscat, Salalah and the peninsula of Musandam have inaugurated in the course of last year’s big international hotel chains such as Grand Hyatt, Intercontinental, Hilton, Chedi, Sheraton, Shangri-La, Six Senses, Golden Delicious Tulip and Crowne Plaza. The availability of such hotels allows the Sultanate of Oman to become an upmarket destination. Oman is also proud of its special maritime heritage.

In July 2007 a Maritime Museum opened in Salalah, the capital of the province of Dhofar. From 5 until 14 July 2008 the Omani royal sailing boat Shabab Oman was in Rouen and was allowed to be visited during the Armada Show. Finally the country is acquiring the trimaran with which lady Ellen MacArthur sailed around the world.
With this new boat Oman will definitely take a role in the international arena of sailing.

At the end of last December the luxurious Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort hotel and Spa of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman received a superb catamaran of about 23 metres long that was very joyful to its guests. The boat, nicknamed Azzurra, can accomodate up to 60 persons on its elegant bridge of 110 sqm. Oman is also a cradle of culture and ecotourism. The Sultanate is interspersed with a multitude of forts and majestic castles, which are undoubtedly a part of numerous touristic interests of this destination. The Omani government threw a program of restoration of these sites, regarding them as witnesses of the amazing cultural and historical inheritance of the country.

The last trends reflect the growing interest in Oman as a touristic destination for “soft adventure” and ecotourism. A big and an accountable touristic plan will begin at the end of the year introducing the information and research centre of the Wildlife Sanctuary of Ras al-Jinz, allowing the people of interest to observe fauna marinades while learning how to protect it. It shelters one of the most important concentration of green turtles of Indian Ocean (more than 30 000 according to the statistics of the Ministry of Environment). Its long, golden sand beach enjoys an international reputation: the majority of the green turtles going through the Indian Ocean would have been born on the Omani coasts where they all come back to lay their eggs since millenniums.

The Centre will give a unique opportunity to observe these giants of the sea in a superb natural frame, while contributing to the conservation of natural and cultural Omani heritage and by favouring the economic development of the local communities.