Omani couple creates Oman Travel Hub

Omani marketing professional Bader Al Lawati and his wife, Anna Chesalina, have launched Oman Travel Hub, a digital platform aimed at helping international travellers discover lesser-known destinations in the sultanate while giving small tourism businesses broader visibility. The platform, which currently operates in English, aggregates destinations, experiences, tour operators, accommodation, transport services and practical travel information and offers a personalised “Plan Your Itinerary With Us” service for travellers.

"There wasn't one place where tourists could find everything they needed," Al Lawati said. "People had to search for destinations, accommodation, transport, tour operators and activities separately. We felt Oman deserved a platform that brought everything together."

The idea for Oman Travel Hub grew out of a family holiday when Chesalina’s relatives visited Oman and the couple struggled to piece together travel information spread across numerous websites and social media accounts. As experienced travellers who frequently created custom itineraries for friends and colleagues, the pair decided to channel that expertise into a platform focused on promoting Oman itself rather than foreign destinations.

Al Lawati and Chesalina position the hub as more than another travel website: it is intended to support local, smaller tourism operators that often lack international marketing reach. "My career in marketing has taught me that visibility is everything," Al Lawati said. "Many local operators offer exceptional experiences, but much of their promotion is in Arabic, which naturally limits their international reach. We want to help tell their stories in a way that connects with travellers around the world." Chesalina added that the platform is also about preserving authenticity: "The larger operators already have strong marketing channels. But there are so many smaller businesses creating unforgettable experiences that visitors simply never hear about. We want to give them a platform where they can shine."

The founders emphasise experiences beyond Oman’s best-known attractions and highlight a range of lesser-known natural and cultural sites:

• Al Jazir’s pink salt lakes
• Barr Al Hikman wetlands, noted for international importance
• The remote Hallaniyat Islands, home to the only non-migratory Arabian humpback whale population
• Ancient baobab trees in Dhofar
• Ain Al Sakhna in Dima W’attayeen with vivid turquoise waters

"For photographers and nature lovers, that journey is unforgettable," Al Lawati said of sites such as Al Jazir and Hallaniyat Islands. Chesalina noted, "Nature is what surprises me most about Oman. Every region offers something completely different. There is always another landscape waiting to be explored."

The platform’s personalised itinerary service asks travellers for preferences, travel style and budget, then produces tailor-made plans covering accommodation, transport, restaurants and activities which are refined with the client. The founders see this as a way to reduce the uncertainty many first-time visitors face when planning a trip to Oman.

Initial traction has been positive: Oman Travel Hub reports encouraging growth in website traffic and social media engagement, prompting plans to expand destination guides, build partnerships with more local providers and introduce multilingual content. The roadmap includes adding German, French, Russian and other languages as the platform targets European markets such as Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Russia where demand for adventure, nature and cultural tourism is growing.

"Our goal is to help those businesses become part of the international tourism conversation," Al Lawati said, acknowledging the ongoing challenge of reaching smaller operators that still depend on walk-in customers and word-of-mouth. For the founders, success will be measured by the memories visitors take away: "Oman offers extraordinary landscapes, genuine hospitality and a culture that has remained remarkably authentic," Al Lawati said. "Some of the country's greatest experiences lie beyond the familiar tourist trail, and those are often the journeys people remember most."