Qatar received 964,000 visitors in 2007, representing an increase of 2% compared to 2006. 95% of travelers to Qatar come on a business visit or to attend an international conference or one of the various exhibitions held in the country.

 

Increasing the number of travelers coming to Qatar is the basis of Qatar tourism authority’s new strategy: to grow the tourism industry in Qatar by 20% in the next five years.

This will be delivered through a variety of methods including attracting travelers flying through Doha, thanks to the key location of Qatar, between Europe, Africa and Asia.

During the 2007/2008 financial year, 10 million passengers traveled through Doha International Airport, thanks to Qatar Airways. The Qatar national carrier currently operates a modern fleet of 64 Airbus and Boeing aircraft from its Doha hub to 83 key business and leisure cities across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, the Far East and North America.

Qatar Airways averaged nearly 40% annual growth in both passenger numbers and revenue in 2007 and its fleet will almost triple in size to reach 110 aircrafts by 2018. New orders for planes will total US $16 billion.

An estimated 50 million passengers will come through the New Doha International Airport when it opens in 2012, with a capacity to handle 320,000 planes.

Qatar tourism authority is targeting 5% of these passengers to stay an extra 48 hours in the country beyond their initial scheduled stopover, totaling 2.5 million travelers.

 

The investment increase of US $17 billion over the next five years on tourism infrastructure is making Qatar even more attractive to visitors. This includes the construction of luxury hotels, resorts and other leisure facilities, totalling a 400% increase in hotel capacity up to 29,000 luxury rooms by 2012.

Qatar will invest even more in tourism sites, such as the newly opened landmark 3 billion USD Museum of Islamic Art, the long-term renovation of the widely appreciated Souq Waqif area, the Doha National Museum, which is currently undergoing a fresh refurbishment, and others projects like the Photography Museum, the Arab Modern Art Museum and the National Library.

Massive investment in the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector is making Qatar an upscale destination reputed for quality and excellence, and guiding the development of sustainable events and supporting infrastructure.

 

Qatar tourism authority develops Qatar into a leading world-class event destination for the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector.

Qatar already boasts existing exhibition space of 15,000 sq m, two new convention and exhibition centres, totaling more than 95,000 sq m, will be added by 2011.These centres will make Qatar a leading destination for international business and conferences, attracting further visitors to Qatar.

QTA is now responsible for managing the temporary Doha Exhibitions Centre, which opened in February and the Doha Convention Centre, which is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2011.

In Qatar, business travelers can attend key conferences along with world-scale exhibitions, all year-round. During 2008, around 120 conferences and exhibitions were scheduled, on topics such as oil and gas, finance, real-estate development, medicine. Doha also hosts a wide range of mainstream diplomatic and cultural conferences, thus having a global impact, for example the United Nations meeting.

Qatar is a place where people see things differently, where citizens embrace new ideas and welcome visitors as honored guests and dear friends

Qatar is a bridge between tradition and global innovation. It is a high quality destination that attracts premiere leisure, business, medical, sport and education tourism, while properly preserving, maintaining and highlighting its authentic heritage and rich past.

Qatar offers business oriented tourism, combined with unique leisure attractions. We offer true Arabic hospitality. We preserve our past and our heritage, while installing pride in our future. We do not seek to attract people just for the sake of getting more people. We want to attract them and make them discover and catch our independent spirit and our progressive orientation, as Qatar is a destination that changes the way people see things.

Tourism in Qatar has a strong business focus but we want visitors to also take advantage of our unique leisure attractions. In Qatar, we do not seek to be a location for mass tourism, rather we are focused on presenting our country as a world class destination, with high-quality services.

 

Qatar is preparing for a robust future by unlocking the creative and economic potential of our people through the most advanced education and training in the region. We have also actively sought and attracted top global companies and created a science and technology hub here to leverage our intellectual and physical resources. We are committed to sustainable development as well as to tradition.

As we continue to expand our presence on the global stage, Qatar is quickly becoming a sought after destination for international business and recreational travelers. At Qatar tourism authority, we are telling the world about Qatar’s role as a bridge between tradition and global innovation. And we have the pleasure of promoting a high quality destination that aims to attract premiere leisure, business, medical, sport and education tourism, while properly preserving, maintaining and highlighting our authentic heritage and rich past.