Five Questions to Bring to Your Oman DMC Meetings at WTM London This November

World Travel Market London runs 3–5 November at ExCeL, and if Oman is any part of your programme, you'll likely have a handful of DMC meetings booked across those three days. This year gives you more to ask about than most — advisories have moved, hotel performance has softened, and flight capacity has shifted in both directions. Here are five questions worth bringing, ours included.

1. What's your actual rate flexibility right now?

Oman's hotels are running at an average occupancy in the mid-40s through most of 2026, well below last year. That's a buyer's position. A DMC who can quote real, current flexibility on rates and group blocks — rather than a generic "let me check" — is one who's actually watching the market. Group and incentive capacity is a good way to frame this question specifically.

2. How are you routing clients around the Lufthansa suspension?

Frankfurt–Muscat and the rest of Lufthansa Group's Middle East network has been suspended since earlier this year, with the current marker set at 24 October. Any DMC working UK or European business should have a clear, rehearsed answer on routing via Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi — if they don't, that's worth noting.

3. What's your honest read on the European booking dip?

European arrivals to Oman's hotels were down nearly 30% through August. Ask directly how a DMC is seeing that in their own numbers, and what they're doing about it. A straight answer tells you more about a partner than any amount of destination marketing material.

4. What's changed with entry requirements since the summer?

Advisory levels, visa rules and entry requirements have all moved more than once this year. Don't assume the brief you were given in spring still holds — ask for the current picture directly, and ask when it was last checked. Our own guide to the current picture is a useful cross-check either way.

5. What capacity do you actually have for winter group business?

With new hotel rooms landing through year-end and the Khareef and winter seasons being watched closely as demand indicators, this is a real moment to lock in group and MICE capacity before it tightens again. Ask specifically, not generally — named properties, named dates.

Where We Go From Here

None of these questions are designed to catch anyone out — they're the ones we'd want asked of us. If you're heading to WTM this year and Oman is on your list, these five should get you a much more useful thirty minutes than the usual catch-up conversation.

If you'd like to set up time to talk through any of this before or during WTM, get in touch and we'll find a slot. Get in touch.