Oman Ready to Kickstart Chinese Tourism Growth with B2B Outreach

Ten Chinese travel agents visited Oman in July 2026 as part of a nine-day FAM trip organized by Dragon Trail

In Dragon Trail’s June 2026 survey, Chinese travel agents said that on-site FAM trips and in-person meetings were two of the best ways that Middle Eastern tourism boards can support them to sell travel to this region. Working together with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism for the Sultanate of Oman, we organized both this summer, with a travel trade FAM trip to Oman in July 2026, followed by an Omani sales mission to Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in August.

As the conditions for tourism to the GCC stabilize and Chinese tourism begins to recover, Oman is moving forward with its outreach to the Chinese travel trade to nurture these important relationships, develop destination knowledge in the Chinese market, and restore visitor confidence through Chinese travel advisors.

FAM Trip

With China’s travel warnings for the GCC now lifted, travel agents are enthusiastic about joining FAM trips and say that this is one of the best ways local tourism boards can support them to sell travel to the region.

From 15-23 July 2026, Dragon Trail organized a FAM trip to Oman for 10 core trade partners from Beijing, Chengdu, and Shenzhen. The travel agents traveled throughout the country, visiting Muscat, Nizwa, Jabel Akhdar, and Salalah over nine days. Activities included hotel site inspections, visiting cultural and historical attractions, a dhow cruise, dolphin watching, sampling local cuisine, hiking, and business meetings.

Sales Mission

In early August 2026, three senior managers from Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen for one-on-one meetings with travel agencies, as well as two trade events. The trip demonstrated Oman’s high regard for the Chinese market and laid a solid foundation for future travel industry collaborations.

Oman’s August 2026 trade dinners in Beijing and Shanghai attracted attendees from nearly 40 travel agencies

The two events were held in Beijing on 4 August and Shanghai on 5 August, attracting nearly 40 travel agencies in total. Highlighting Omani scenery as backdrop visuals, the events featured interactive games including quizzes and puzzles to grow and reward Oman-related knowledge. KOL video footage was screened throughout the events, offering participants more intuitive insights into Oman. Several travel agencies leaders were invited for impromptu sharing, where they talked about their impressions and real-life travel experiences in Oman, providing alternative perspectives on the country.

Chinese travel agents competed in teams to complete puzzles of iconic Omani tourism destinations

Travel trade participants expressed that they enjoyed the events and were interested to develop more diversified travel products for Oman in the second half of this year, actively promote the destination, and drive more Chinese tourist arrivals.

Ongoing Engagement

While Chinese travel to the whole of the Middle East has been disrupted in 2026, Oman has maintained a confident and unwavering approach to working with the Chinese travel trade and media to support the ongoing development of tourism to this relatively new and unique destination. In April 2026, Dragon Trail helped the tourism board to exhibit at MITE in Macau, as well as at ITB China in Shanghai in May. Dragon Trail also organized a media event for Oman this May in Shanghai to raise awareness about the country as a travel destination.

OTAs Tongcheng, Fliggy, and Qunar, and car rental platform Zuzuche all named Oman as one of the destinations with the most rapid growth for travel over the 2026 Chinese New Year holiday, reporting growth rates of more than 200% from the year before.

Looking back at lessons learned from the pandemic and China’s three-year closure for international leisure travel, we can see the value of staying committed and engaged with the Chinese travel trade, as well as the resilience of the Chinese outbound travel market. Oman’s approach positions the country to resume its extraordinary growth without delay.

Dragon Trail will share further Chinese travel trade and consumer sentiment data as an official Research Partner at WTM Spotlight Riyadh and ATM Dubai in September 2026, alongside the release of the second edition of our white paper on Chinese tourism to MENA.

Dragon Trail is proud to represent the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman in China. Our comprehensive marketing services include offline event organization, FAM trips, media relations, social media management, media buy, travel trade training and communication, and more. Please get in touch to discuss how we can support your China B2C and B2B market outreach.