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Who is OMRAN: the Omani government's tourism developer behind Madinat Al Irfan, Yiti, Al Mouj Muscat and Hawana Salalah, with 33 hotel properties, 14 destinations and OMR 243.8 million of foreign investment attracted in 2025

Oman Tourism Development Company, known as OMRAN Group, is the Omani government's executive arm for tourism development and, since January 2021, a subsidiary of the Oman Investment Authority, the state's sovereign fund. Its own website describes a track record of more than twenty years and the largest portfolio of hotel investments in the country. Its 2025 annual report, as reported by Oman Observer, puts the portfolio at 33 hospitality properties, 14 urban communities and Integrated Tourism Complexes and 18 experiences, and says the group attracted OMR 243.8 million of foreign direct investment in 2025. For a Kuwaiti buyer the names matter because they are the destinations where OMRAN's partners sell homes: Al Mouj Muscat with Majid Al Futtaim, Hawana Salalah with Orascom, The Sustainable City - Yiti with Diamond Developers, and now Madinat Al Irfan, where the first homes were agreed on 13 October 2026.

Al Mithaq news desk · Published · Source: OMRAN Group website: About Oman Tourism Development Company (OMRAN Group)
OMRAN Group's official aerial render of Madinat Al Irfan in Muscat at sunset, with office buildings, homes and gardens below the Hajar mountains
OMRAN Group's official aerial render of Madinat Al Irfan in Muscat at sunset, with office buildings, homes and gardens below the Hajar mountains. Picture: OMRAN Group
33hospitality properties in the OMRAN portfolio, with 14 urban communities and Integrated Tourism Complexes and 18 experiences (2025 annual report)
OMR 243.8 millionforeign direct investment attracted by the group in 2025, after more than OMR 156 million in 2024
More than OMR 122 millionthe three development agreements signed on 13 October 2026 for Madinat Al Irfan and Yiti

What OMRAN is

OMRAN Group is the trading name of Oman Tourism Development Company. Its website describes it as the Government of the Sultanate of Oman's executive arm for tourism development, working in line with Oman Vision 2040 and the strategic direction of the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), and says its track record extends over more than twenty years. On 31 January 2021 the OIA announced that it was restructuring its tourism and real estate investments by transferring them to OMRAN, which became a subsidiary of the authority; the transfer included the Yiti project, described then as a 1.5 million square metre waterfront tourism complex, the 112-room Alila Hinu Bay hotel in Mirbat, the Naseem hotel at Jabal Akhdar and the OIA's shares in ASAAS. OMRAN works through three pillars, lifestyle communities and mixed-use developments, hospitality assets and experiences, and describes itself as managing the largest and most diverse portfolio of hotel investments in Oman.

The numbers

OMRAN's 2025 annual report, as reported by Oman Observer on 28 June 2026, distributes the portfolio across 33 hospitality properties, 14 urban communities and Integrated Tourism Complexes and 18 experiences, and says the group attracted foreign direct investment totalling OMR 243.8 million in 2025. For 2024, figures OMRAN released after a board meeting, reported by Muscat Daily, gave a net profit of OMR 25.2 million on revenues of more than OMR 58.3 million, more than OMR 156 million of foreign direct investment, 820,365 guests across the hotel portfolio, up 6%, an average occupancy of 45%, and the opening of JW Marriott Muscat. The hospitality list on OMRAN's website runs from Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton hotel, and the InterContinental Muscat to Crowne Plaza hotels in Muscat, Salalah and Duqm, Jumeirah Muscat Bay, Alila Jabal Akhdar, Alila Hinu Bay and Club Med Musandam.

Madinat Al Irfan: the new city centre

Madinat Al Irfan is OMRAN's flagship urban destination, 7 million square metres in the heart of Muscat with 10,000 homes planned in its masterplan. The Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre sits at its heart, connected to the Crowne Plaza Muscat OCEC and Muscat's first JW Marriott; its business park, the country's first fully LEED and WELL certified one, houses the headquarters of Omantel, OQ and OQEP, and the destination is also set to include the International Financial Centre of Oman. On 13 October 2026 OMRAN signed two agreements worth OMR 44.5 million with Grova Developments, the real estate arm of Hassan Allam Holding, for the first residential phase: a residential neighbourhood of OMR 29 million and a branded residences project of OMR 15.5 million. No sales date, prices or unit counts have been announced.

Yiti: the coast south of Muscat

Yiti Integrated Tourism Development, about 40 minutes from Muscat International Airport, is where most of OMRAN's current residential activity is. The Sustainable City - Yiti is the joint venture with Diamond Developers, delivered through SDIC, a company owned by OMRAN and SEE Holding; on 30 September 2026 SDIC signed an OMR 38.5 million (USD 100 million) financing agreement with the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector arm, for The Plaza, the retail, dining and wellness heart of the city. Inside the same city, the Nikki Beach Resort and Spa Muscat, 140 rooms and suites and 30 villas, was about 81.2% complete at the end of 2025. OMRAN has also partnered with Enevoria for Oman's first Nobu resort at Yiti on a 75,000 square metre site, with a hotel, branded residences and a private beach, and on 13 October 2026 it signed the OMR 78 million Yiti Hills and Oases agreement with Aurelian Development, the fourth phase, for 490 homes and a five-star resort. Phase 3 land parcels for mixed-use, retail and leisure are listed as a current investment opportunity on OMRAN's website.

Al Mouj Muscat and Hawana Salalah: the finished communities

Two OMRAN destinations are already lived in. Al Mouj Muscat, developed with Majid Al Futtaim, is described on OMRAN's website as home to more than 6,000 residents from 85 nationalities, with oceanfront homes, hotels, business parks and a dining and retail district; Al Mithaq is an authorised broker for it. Hawana Salalah, developed with Orascom Development, is described as Oman's largest tourism destination: seven kilometres of beach, 1,100 hotel rooms, freehold properties, a marina and an aqua park. Al Mouj Muscat is an Integrated Tourism Complex, the designation under which a non-Omani can own and apply for residency; OMRAN's page describes the Hawana Salalah homes as freehold.

Four Seasons, Port Sultan Qaboos and the resorts

OMRAN is developing the Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Muscat on the Al Bustan beachfront, the first Four Seasons in Oman: 200 hotel rooms, 100 private residences and five restaurants. On 5 October 2026 the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism signed an Integrated Tourism Complex licence agreement with OMRAN for the Sultan Qaboos Port Waterfront in Muttrah: about one million square metres, more than 400,000 of them developable, in three phases and four districts, Port Souq, Port Gateway, Al Shatifi with homes and hotels on a waterfront promenade, and Al Shatifi Hills with a mountain resort. On the coast and in the mountains, The Chedi Ras Al Hadd, 250 rooms, was more than 69% built at the end of 2025; Club Med Musandam will be the first Club Med in the Middle East; Alie Nivas in Musandam plans 30 cliffside villas with Mohsin Haider Darwish Group; and Santani Jabal Shams is a wellness retreat with Santani Wellness Resorts.

What Oman offers the investor

OMRAN's investment page sets out the national terms: a ten-year residency through the Golden Residency Programme, usufruct agreements of 50 years renewable for similar periods with no rental fees for the first five years, 100% foreign ownership across most sectors including tourism and real estate, free movement of capital, 0% personal income tax and 15% corporate income tax with exemptions for qualifying tourism projects. These are the terms for investors partnering with OMRAN; a home buyer's route is the property residency explained on our Oman page.

Why it mattersWhy should a Kuwaiti care who OMRAN is? Because in Oman the question is not only which developer builds your home, but who owns the land and the licence underneath it. OMRAN is the state's master developer: it is the government shareholder in the destinations, signs the Integrated Tourism Complex licences with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, and brings in a partner to design and build. That has three practical consequences. First, the homes are sold by the partner company of each destination, not by OMRAN head office: the 13 October release, for example, gives Aurelian Development the design, construction, marketing and sales of Yiti Hills and Oases; check that the seller you deal with is that destination's partner or its authorised broker. Second, the Integrated Tourism Complex licence is what makes a foreign purchase and the residency that follows possible, so ask for it by name: Yiti and Al Mouj have it and both are listed on our Oman residency page, Port Sultan Qaboos received its licence on 5 October 2026 and has no homes on sale yet, and the 13 October release on Madinat Al Irfan does not say under which rules its homes will be sold. Third, a government-backed master developer reduces one risk, the land, but not the other, the timetable: OMRAN's own figures show Nikki Beach at Yiti 81.2% built and The Chedi Ras Al Hadd more than 69% built at the end of 2025, so for a holiday home or a rental, prefer a completed phase, and for an off-plan purchase, ask for the construction percentage in writing.

What Al Mithaq adds

Al Mithaq sells homes in two OMRAN destinations from Kuwait. At The Sustainable City - Yiti, the OMRAN and Diamond Developers city, we offer courtyard and garden villas, apartments at The Plaza and Nikki Beach Residences at The Arc, with no service charges on villas. At Al Mouj Muscat we are an authorised broker, with villas, chalets and apartments across the marina, golf and beach areas and Oman residency for the owner. Our Oman residency page explains the renewable two-year residency in Sultan Haitham City and the Sorouh communities once 30% of the price is paid, and the ten-year Golden Residency for a finished home worth OMR 200,000 or more in an Integrated Tourism Complex. We do not represent OMRAN itself, Grova, Orascom or the hotel projects named above.

Sources

Homes we sell there

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Project

Yiti · The Sustainable City

Diamond Developers × OMRAN · Yiti · Muscat

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Al Mouj Muscat · eight areas

Al Mouj Muscat · Muscat

See the project ›Travel guide

Oman travel guide

Muscat, the mountains and the coast: where to stay, eat and go

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