Salalah (Arabic: صَلَالَة, romanized: Ṣalālah) is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar.
[2] Salalah attracts many tourists from other parts of Oman and from abroad during the monsoon/khareef season, from June to September.
Salalah was the traditional capital of Dhofar, which reached the peak of prosperity in the 13th century thanks to the incense trade.
His son, Qaboos, who acceded to his father's throne in 1970, decided to move his capital to Muscat, the largest city in Oman, where he lived until he quietly left for treatment in Germany.
His last visits were in 2006 to meet influential tribal and local leaders, and in 2010 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his accession with a massive parade watched for several hours by an estimated 100,000 spectators.
Despite the Sultan's generally benevolent government running Oman without national taxation, thanks to its vast mineral resources, and with all menial work done by Asian labourers, Salalah saw peaceful protests for a few months in 2011 in the domino effect of the Arab Spring.
Khareef, خريف means "autumn" in Arabic, but it refers to monsoon when describing the region around Salalah.
During this time, the brown landscape of Salalah and its surroundings are completely transformed to beautiful and lush green scenes.
[3] The city, like many other in Arab states of the Arabian Peninsula, has a relatively large expatriate community, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.
Unlike Omanis on the eastern coast of Oman in and around Muscat, most of which are Ibadis, most Muslims in Salalah follow the Sunni sect of Islam.
[8][better source needed] There is also a considerable population of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs in the expatriate community.
The Salalah Free Zone, situated right beside the port, is emerging as a new center for heavy industries in the Middle East.
have been nicknamed as "Al-Zaeem", or "The Leader(s)", due to their enormous success in both the Omani League, and in the Sultan Qaboos Cup.
Its aim is to offer students a solid grasp of the English language so that they may go on to complete further studies in important sectors such as I.T.
During the Khareef Season (Monsoons) there are weekly flights to other international destinations including Sweden and Turkey.
Oman National Transport Company (Mwasalat) has started daily public bus service in Salalah from December 2018.
[19] Long-distance air-conditioned buses are operated daily from Salalah to Haima, Muscat, Nizwa, Al-Buraimi, Dubai, Al-Ain, Al-Ghaydah, Mukalla, and Seiyun, as well as PDO locations such as Marmul.
Taxis are color-coded orange and white and provide semi-personal transportation in the form of both individual hire and the same opportunistic roadway service as Baisa buses, which are not as popular in the city.
Minibuses, colour-coded orange and white, are unmetered like taxis, after several government initiatives to introduce meters were rejected.