'No ministry consent for new restaurant needed in Oman'

Muscat: Restaurants will no longer need to get approval from the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) to establish a business, a senior ministry official said.
Establishing a restaurant used to be hard for businessmen as they had to seek approvals from different government bodies, including MoT. But from now on, the ministry has made it clear that only tourism restaurants need to get such permissions.
“Non-tourism category restaurants have nothing to do with the ministry now,” said Maitha Al Mahrouqi, undersecretary at MoT. She explained that in the past it was quite complicated to establish a new restaurant.
“Getting approval from different authorities made the businessmen’s lives difficult. With the ‘Invest Easy’ system, the procedures have become easier,” said Al Mahrouqi, adding that restaurants can now establish their business without referring to the ministry. However, when there is a plan to grade the restaurant under the tourism establishment, then the restaurant owner should seek MoT’s approval.
“The new tourism regulation came out with international criteria for restaurants as a restaurant needs to meet a specific level to get the tourism licence,” said Al Mahrouqi.
She added that the ministry grants a number of privileges to tourism restaurants, such as offering a musical show in a restaurant in accordance with its tourism grade.
“Restaurants will be graded like hotels now as the ministry clubs them under different categories,” said Al Mahrouqi.
She explained that there are three categories for restaurants, based on cuisine offered, location, number of staff and other issues.
“Our standards are very consistent like the location, number of employees, uniform and food and we will monitor them under the standards requirements like hotels.”
Tourism regulation
MoT had issued a new tourism regulation recently to organise different matters in the tourism market.
In an earlier news report, the Times of Oman had addressed the new regulation for hotels establishments in Oman, stating that hotels in Oman have been told to register the names of all guests and their visitors with the Royal Oman Police on a daily basis and that guests are not allowed to bring under-age girls to rooms without the female being accompanied by at least a second degree relative.
Moreover, as part of the new regulations, a tourist guide will now have to obtain a proper licence to do his job after passing a test and interview.
The ministry had also announced earlier an ‘Omani Tourism Strategy,’ stating that global tourism will become the main economic driver for employment in the world, accounting for 11 per cent of the total number of jobs a decade from now and will contribute more than 9 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product, attracting more than 1 billion international flights.
The Sultanate has the potential to achieve a leading position in the global tourism field.