Qatar Hopes to Attract 5.6 Million Visitors

At the end of last month, Qatar launched a new tourism strategy, with its goal set at 5.6 million visitors by 2023, and tourism accounting for 3.8 percent of the country’s GDP.

For comparison, last year, 1.4 million visitors arrived in Qatar in the first six months alone, but the largest country providing those travelers was Saudi Arabia, now banning its citizens from traveling to Qatar. The country’s tourism department is hoping to combat this by waiving visa requirements for 80 countries.

Authorities are hopeful. “We are sure that through diversification of targeted markets that we accelerated recently, we will achieve our goals. The losses in the previous period will be compensated in the coming period. However, as a tourist destination, what’s important for us is the social and cultural sustainability. We don’t want to develop a tourism sector that is not sustainable. We don’t want to develop a tourism sector that doesn’t represent Qatari identity and spirit,” said Hassan Al Ibrahim, head of tourism development sector, Qatar Tourism Authority.

The new tourism strategy is appealing, with lots of focus on experiential travel, that incorporates unique activities like safaris, hunting, pearl diving and more. Additionally, the country hopes to make Qatar more attractive to travelers on a less extravagant budget.

“Qatar is not an overly expensive tourist destination, however the available products are of high price. There is a need to diversify the tourist products to include three- and two-star hotels, while maintaining quality, instead of limiting available offers to expensive products,” said Taleb al-Rifai, secretary general, the World Tourism Organization.

A focus is also made on accessibility, particularly for those with physical limitations. “Accessible Qatar was launched in June last year. It’s an application and website that shows Qatar’s map and the different tourist locations in terms of accessibility. When information became available online, people with disabilities were able to check different sites and how accessible they are before they go out. This initiative supports the tourism for people with disabilities,” said Jack Saba, general manager, public affairs, Sasol Company.