QATAR Tourism Authority (QTA) has opened its fifth overseas office to promote the destination’s tourism attractions in the rapidly developing South East Asian market, with special focus on Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
This follows the recent opening of an office in Saudi Arabia to cover the prime GCC market, as well as the QTA’S successful existing international network in the key European markets of the UK, France and Germany.QTA’s chief marketing & promotions officer, Rashed Al Qurese, said, “Our focus will be on conveying a strong message that Qatar offers the ideal mix of top-quality accommodation and superb leisure facilities, including outstanding cultural attractions and a clean, green, safe environment with ‘first-world’ infrastructure and services. We will also emphasise the destination’s great potential for family entertainment, shopping, dining and other recreational activities to appeal to this market,” he said. $45BN INVESTMENT About $45 billion in investments have been projected for tourism-related projects in Qatar up to 2030.“We are introducing the National Tourism Strategy 2030 to continue to develop Qatar as a destination while strengthening the tourism industry,” Issa bin Mohamed Al-Mohannadi, chairman of QTA has said.With Qatar gearing up for Fifa World Cup 2022, the country will have to build more rooms and create a destination at the same time. The growth in the number of visitors a year in Qatar has been one of the highest and the fastest in the region. On an average, visitor count has is seeing an increase of 11 to 13 per cent every year. Currently, Qatar has 14,000 rooms with another 5,000 expected to come to the market in the next four years. “This will bring the total to 19,000 and based on demand we will add an additional 11,000 to bring the total to 30,000,” the QTA chairman was quoted as saying. Link to the Qatar Airways debut: