Modern Times

Oil and gas are the two industries that still account for the largest part of the Omani gross domestic product. It was around 51% in 2013. This leads to the fact that still around 85% of state revenues come from the sale of oil and gas, which in turn leads to an enormous dependence on factors such as oil prices and the global demand for oil and gas. Coupled with the fact that Oman is a country that has comparatively few oil reserves that can be extracted without significant technical and financial effort, this poses a mammoth task for the political leadership. For relying solely on oil and gas...

The Sultanate of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula is continuously developing its tourism in a sustainable way. The philosophy here is fundamentally different from that of the neighboring countries such as the United Arab Emirates. In Oman, there are few hotels, which are, however, of very high standard. The image is shaped by a few luxury hotels while simple hotels or guesthouses are rarely seen. A study by the World Economic Forum (published in April 2017) ranks Oman ninth in terms of tourism growth. The character of gentle tourism remains, as the hotels adapt to the traditional image of Oman a...

When the first cargo ship loaded with oil set sail from Oman in 1967 and headed out into the world, a new era began for the country on the Persian Gulf. Once a trading superpower that traded with China and maintained its own trading posts in Africa, Oman had become a simple and impoverished desert state where people lived off agriculture and livestock farming in the few arable areas. There were hardly any other sources of income, leaving the population poor and largely uneducated. The vast land was barely governable, leading to regular tribal conflicts and sometimes civil war-like conditions. ...