Qatar to take the lead role for tourism marketing and promotion in the region
Alexandria - Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) participated in the sixth meeting of the Executive Committee of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council, which preceded the thirteenth session of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council. The meetings were held in Alexandria from 30 May through 2 June. The Qatar delegation was headed by Mr. Ahmed Al Nuaimi, Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority.
The meetings of the Executive Committee were attended by Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Libya. The discussions included recommended topics for the agenda of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council which was to follow, the most important items of which was the status of previous recommendations of the Ministers Council..
One such recommendation was the establishment of the Arab Center for Tourism Crisis Management under the umbrella of the Arab Tourism Organization, based in Yemen. The functions of the center would include working through crises that would affect the Arab tourism industry and setting up the necessary mechanisms to reduce and overcome those crises.
Another discussion led to the adoption of an Arab strategy for tourism, with a focus on training and rehabilitation of human resources in the tourism sector, marketing and tourism promotion, tourism media, statistics of tourism, tourism investment, sustainable development and reduction of poverty and unemployment, which will be sent to the Council of Economic and Social Affairs and presented to the leaders of the assembly. In this strategy Mr. Al Nuaimi suggested that the State of Qatar take the leading role in relation to marketing and tourism promotion.
Earlier in the year, Qatar hosted a UNWTO marketing workshop, which was well-attended by a number of Arab countries. A second workshop will be planned for October this year, focussing on marketing and tourism promotion, and will be open to all countries in the region to attend.
A question was raised about the evolving role of the State of Qatar in Arab tourism and its contribution. Mr. Al Nuaimi clarified that Qatar Tourism Authority has emerged strong in this area through many programs it has undertaken, including holding training courses and focussing attention on the human element of tourism, and also focusing on the promotion of unique tourist attractions as they are the backbone to reviving tourism and the most important element for the Arab countries. This is of particular importance because according to the latest statement from the Organization of Arab Tourism, the Arab world’s share of global tourism is only 7% which is low compared to the potential of the Arab States and their monuments, heritage and their ability to organize conferences and sporting events.
Also on the agenda for discussion was a review of the studies submitted by the Arab states following the executive decision requesting same from the leaders at the Kuwait Socio-Economic Summit (2008), which focussed on tourism. To this item, Mr. Al Nuaimi presented a report on the efforts of the State of Qatar, which was well-received by the Executive Committee and Ministers council.
Mr. Al Nuaimi said that one of the most important points discussed during the meeting was the warning to Israel not to promote Israeli tourism using Palestinian archaeological sites as Israeli heritage and tourist sites. He pointed to the positive move issued from the center of advertising in Britain, ASB, which sent an ultimatum to the State of Israel to discontinue this misleading advertising. The Ministers Council also issued a note of appreciation to the agency, and called for all ambassadors abroad, boards and agencies of Arab tourism, to cooperate to stop this assault on Palestinian archaeological sites.
On the discussion about implementing pan-Arab cooperation on tourism, Mr. Al Nuaimi pointed out that global crises have been frequent and wide-ranging – from the global financial crisis, to epidemic diseases and now the crisis of declining value of the euro. He continued that all these issues affect tourism, which supports the importance of building tourism cooperation between Arab countries. At the meeting of the Arab Tourism Organization in Alexandria two months ago, Qatar raised the subject of tourism in the Arab States being adversely affected by such crises, and introduced the idea of changing strategic tourism development plans to counteract these crises while keeping in line with the region’s tourism growth plans. One such suggestion was to consider alternative markets to avoid exposure to disasters in others, stressing the need to target Asian markets.
To this point, Mr. Al Nuaimi stated that recent statistics released by the World Tourism Organization declared the notable rise in expected total number of tourists leaving Asia - anticipated to be up to 200 million outbound tourists in 2020. To prepare for this, Mr. Al Nuaimi said that Qatar has organized a marketing roadshow in October through Asia – including Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Singapore. The delegation will be attended by the Ministry of Culture, sports organizations, travel and tourism companies, hotels and museums. Direct flights on Qatar Airways to these major cities will facilitate QTA’s ’48 Hours in Qatar’ stopover campaign for many transit passengers.
Mr. Al Nuaimi added that Qatar is considering an expansion to its presence in the Asian market by raising the annual participation in exhibitions and exchanges of Asian tourism, which reflects the importance of attracting this market for inbound tourism.
Mr. Al Nuaimi stressed the importance of Qatar and the Arab countries’ focus on touristic competitiveness, pointing out that the recent World Economic Forum study which placed Qatar as second in the Middle East region, and 37th worldwide. The evaluation was based on economic and legal indices and standards and according to infrastructure, capacity and touristic quality, making note of Qatar’s expectations for the next report which is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2011. Qatar’s rank is expected to rise, especially after the Authority has analyzed the results of the report and has determined the qualities that made Qatar earn its current ranking, and has assessed what must be carried out to improve the competitive position going forward.
Moreover, Mr. Al Nuaimi indicated the significant achievements in air transport and travel infrastructure and facilities in Qatar, which would raise their rankings in this area of the study. This is in addition to the massive support by the government to develop tourism infrastructure, especially as Qatar approaches the global bid to host the World Cup 2022. QTA was a key player that cooperated with the Qatar Bid Committee to file the final book for the World Cup bid with regards to tourism facilities and hotels, which will be opening between now and the year 2022.Al Nuaimi added that in this area QTA focused on all facilities that are under construction, and studied the reasons behind opening delays, stressing that the purpose of this classification is to study the obstacles to the hospitality sector, tourism, and to activate it and support the government in the distribution of hotel facilities throughout the State.
