(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) As skipper Sidney Gavignet helmed the Musandam-Oman Sail to a fantastic launch at the start of the Route du Rhum race on Sunday Oman's pavilion in the St Malo quay exhibition centre was being put away.
Two events on either side of the camera that further evinced the viability of positioning and branding Oman through sport.
For more than a week a dedicated ground team comprising employees from the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) Oman Sail and local staff had been showcasing Oman to the estimated over 2mn visitors to the famous quadrennial race.
'The Route du Rhum is one of the great sporting events. It's a great platform to showcase Oman and we capitalise on opportunities to showcase Oman's culture heritage and of course sports' said H E Maitha al Mahrouqi Undersecretary in MoT.
'We saw a quite good number of visitors to the Oman tent. It showed both the success of participating in the event and the cooperation between all stakeholders' she added. 'This is definitely the new strategy and we have been building on it. We all have one mission: To promote the Sultanate of Oman.'
'To do this we ensure as many stakeholders are involved.' Opinions echoed by David Graham CEO Oman Sail for whom the race and the week prior was about bringing Oman to the international public.
'The government of Oman is investing in the sport of sailing and that is such a wise thing to do' said Graham. 'Not only do you see the tangible results that Oman Sail can bring (in terms of value for money) but you got the intangibles – in terms of positioning the country. This is relevant because Oman has got a deep maritime past. And Oman Sail is sort of bringing that into the sports arena. It's a special thing to be part of.'
class=" text-center">Natural partnership
'Sailing is a sport that attracts an elite quite high-end clientele and this is exactly the combination that we wish to attract to Oman' said H E Maitha. 'It's a great sport that gets international coverage.'
Whereas earlier Oman Sail was focusing on the sports sphere 'now there is an understanding how we can all co-operate' to promote Oman she added.
'It's a great experience for MoT employees to learn how to showcase Oman through sport something that they might not have much background in.'
And France being a 'very important source market' a partnership with Oman Air was only natural – given that the national carrier has direct flights to major European countries.
Rania Khodr the MoT representative in three such high-value countries (France Italy and Switzerland) said 'This is the second most famous sailing event in France and a very good way to reflect the image of Oman due to its rich sailing tradition. And so we had actions around the race to animate the event.' From draws to see the boat to henna and massar-tying and a raffle for a visit to Oman a generous value-adding promotion taken up by Oman Air.<
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