Efforts ongoing to enhance tourism sector

DOHA: Developing Qatar’s key destinations and easing business procedures for tourism establishments and event organisers are among the ongoing efforts towards achieving the goals of the Next Chapter of the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy, Hassan Al Ibrahim, Acting Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), has said.

Speaking at the fifth Annual Tourism Industry Ramadan Ghabga, Al Ibrahim highlighted the future developments to further diversify Qatar’s tourism offerings and promote the country as a memorable and authentic tourist destination, in line with the Next Chapter launched last year.

“We have launched a programme to develop key destinations within Qatar to enhance the visitor experience there, starting with Bin Ghannam Island, which we have started developing last week in partnership with Ashghal. We’ve also started working on the development of Khor Al Adaid and Sealine in collaboration with various stakeholders,” he said.

He continued, “And, to further ease business procedures for our private sector partners, we have launched another phase of the e-licencing system, which caters to tourism establishments and business events’ organisers.”

“Finally, we are currently anticipating the decision to establish the National Tourism Council, which will be followed by a transformation of the sector’s governance, to ensure greater transparency, efficiency and participation of the private sector,” he added.

On the siege which turns one year next month, he said the blockade was a “seemingly daunting challenge which has been turned into a great catalyst for development and growth” with Qatar’s wise leadership.

As the one year anniversary of the blockade nears, he thanked all  the partners of QTA for their support towards the development of the country’s tourism industry in the past year which he described as “a period of great growth” with the implementation of the Next Chapter.

“We began implementing this strategy right away, and within a short space of time, Qatar has become the most open country in the region, following a string of visa facilitation policies. Meanwhile, Qatar’s hospitality sector has risen in rank to top the Middle East, according to Olery’s Guest Experience Report,” he said.

“We have also opened representative offices in the three largest visitor source markets in the world — China, Russia and India. The promotional efforts in these markets have been accompanied by a promising increase in visitor arrivals, with the number of Russian visitors increasing by 441 percent, Chinese visitors increasing by 27 percent and Indian visitors by 15 percent in the first quarter of 2018,” he added.

He also pointed out the successful cruise season, which concluded on a high note witnessing a 39% growth in cruise visitors. He said it is projected that Qatar will be receiving 500,000 cruise visitors by 2026.

The annual Ghabga event, which was held on Sunday at The St Regis Doha, brought together QTA’s partners in the public and private sectors, staff and media representatives and is one of platforms for the members of the tourism sector to connect, exchange ideas and find new and innovative ways to develop the sector through partnerships.

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