No Christmas for the AGCC summit
According to a private message I have received, ALL the facilities at both the Al Bandar and Al Husn hotels at the Bar Al-Jissah resort are to be placed totally at the disposal of the Diwan of the Royal Court from 24th-30th December 2008 (inclusive), "to facilitate the requirements of the delegates attending the GCC Summit."
The message coincides with the assertion by secretary-general of the AGCC Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah, printed in the Times of Oman yesterday that:
“No new dates [for the AGCC summit] have yet been set as it is a procedural issue and it’s still under consultation.”A Saudi newspaper suggested that the most likely dates for the conference would be 29th-30th December.
The Times of Oman report added that because the proposed dates for the AGCC summit fell in late November and coincided with the pilgrimage season of the Hajj, the meeting had been postponed.
Eid al-Adha is scheduled to start on 8th December, following the Hajj. Traditionally, it is a long holiday, particularly in Saudi Arabia.
In the past, Oman has hosted the AGCC summit at the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel, but the Al Bustan is closed for refurbishment. So the organisers have gone for the next exclusive venue - the Shangri-la Resort.
I received my news from someone who had been planning a lavish, relaxing Christmas there. It will not happen. There will be no Christmas at Shangri-La.
He speculated that the action of closing the hotels would be extremely detrimental to the opinion of high net-worth tourists on Oman as a tourist destination, particularly as Christmas and New Year are the peak period for winter holidays in western countries. Otherwise you go skiing from January to March.
But I suspect that the feelings of expatriate tourists are not the focus of the AGCC summit organisers. Tourists with money can always go somewhere else.
Within the AGCC community, it is fraternity and brotherhood with fellow Arabs that counts - and Saudi Arabia is a big neighbour where Christmas is not recognised.
On another note, the Khaleej Times reported yesterday (21st October 2008) that 11,000 residents on the Batinah coast will be moved to make way for a 240 km coastal road and possibly also a railway.
The displaced citizens will be rehoused in "2,200 houses to be built at a cost of RO148 million under an agreement signed by the government here on 19th October with Al Rajhi Development Company (ARDC) in Barka, Musanah, Liwa and Shinas."
The plan was also announced in Sunday's Times of Oman, but with a different emphasis.
Comments
muscati wrote:
newsbriefs wrote:
Somebody kindly wrote to tell me about their visit to the Al Bustan Palace Hotel last week (first week of November 2008. "lots of workers' vehicles going in and out, a mobile crane working at the front of the building. There are tourists staying there, but not too many. We inspected the hotel (walked into a lift and pressed the up button - the key cards are not yet working!) and reckon that only two out of the upper floors are suitable for occupation - there were workmen in the others. [ ] There were other visible problems - for example electric sockets missing their covers in the main lobby area." My correspondent guesses that the royal suites will be ready in December, but the ministers will have to stay at the Shangri-La and other officials elsewhere.
The Batinah coastal road is a joke. Thousands of people are being displaced. Hundreds of millions or rials will be spent on just relocating them, and that's not even counting the cost of the actual road itself. The road will do nothing for the Batinah's economy. What we really need is a Batinah expressway, and that's only now being tendered for design. It will basically be an extension of Muscat's Southern Expressway going all the way up the Batinah with no stops or stupid roundabouts.