Under the aegis of Sayyid Haitham Bin Tariq Al Said, minister of heritage and culture, Majid Al Futtaim unveiled its plans to increase its total investment in the Sultanate to OMR705 million by 2020, which includes the development of City Center Sohar, a new regional mall. The announcement was made to Omani dignitaries at a launch event which reinforced Majid Al Futtaim's commitment to its investments in Oman. The company's Chief Executive Officer Alain Bejjani, and Majid Al Futtaim's Oman country head, Talib Omar as well as other Majid Al Futtaim senior executives and Omani employees welcomed a number of esteemed guests to a gala dinner, following the retail and leisure pioneer's announcement. In addition to revealing new developments, the gala evening celebrated Majid Al Futtaim's 15 years of investment and relationship-building in the Sultanate of Oman. The company's current investment strategy includes further new developments, such as Mall of Oman and My City Center Sur, as well as the next stage of development at Al Mouj Muscat and the expansion of its existing retail and entertainment businesses including Magic Planet, Carrefour and VOX Cinemas. Majid Al Futtaim's planned investments are anticipated to create more than 42,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the Sultanate in the next five years. A significant percentage of the management at Majid Al Futtaim's malls in the Sultanate is made up by Omani nationals and this number is set to increase once the new malls are completed. The continued investment in Oman's retail, leisure and entertainment infrastructure by Majid Al Futtaim supports the country's National Strategy for Tourism 2040, which targets a 6 per cent rise in the contribution of the tourism sector to GDP and a near doubling of visitor numbers to five million annually.
