The vision of 2020 for Oman focuses on two main areas; the first area is to diversify the country's economy away from its reliance on oil. The second area is to focus on the Omanisation Plan (OP) through development and increasing the Omani workforce in all different sectors in the country. Tourism in the Sultanate of Oman as an alternative to dependence on oil has become one of the economic engines for the country's development. Hotels are a corner stone in the tourism industry. This study focused on the implementation of the Omanisation Plan in the hotel sector, and enhanced understanding of the issues relating to hotel employment in an Islamic/Omani context which threatens the feasibility of economic diversification through tourism for the Sultanate of Oman. This study adopted a case study approach, and was carried out in four stages. The first stage was the analysis of extant literature and documents to develop a theoretical background for the research. The second stage involved document analysis as well as incorporating semi-structured interviews with government official and tourism experts to explore the extent of the implementation of OP in the hotel sector. The third stage involved conducting semi-structured interviews with hotel employers and hotel employees to explore the main constraints that impact on the recruitment and retention of Omanis in the hotel sector, and the main social and cultural factors and the Islamic doctrines limiting the implementation of OP in the sector. Final stage was to provide recommendations to address the employment issues in the hotel sector.

The vision of 2020 for Oman focuses on two main areas; the first area is to diversify the country's economy away from its reliance on oil. The second area is to focus on the Omanisation Plan (OP) through development and increasing the Omani workforce in all different sectors in the country. Touri...