Tourism in Qatar
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marhaba.qa Qatar offers a wide range of authentic tourism experiences, in addition to hosting close to 80 sporting events annually, and is the first Middle Eastern country to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM and the 2023 FINA World Swimming Championships.
Tourist arrivals Qatar succesfully hosted the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM from 20 November to 18 December 2022, welcoming more than 1.4 mn. Visitors are still flocking to Qatar.
A range of visa measures announced by Qatar Tourism (QT), formerly known as Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), have been widely welcomed by tourism industry professionals, as well as the country’s hospitality and retail operators. The introduction of the free, 96-hour transit visa and +Qatar (an initiative to promote Qatar as a stopover destination by QT and Qatar Airways) has resulted in bringing close to 200,000 visitors to Qatar. In August 2017, Qatar introduced visa waivers for citizens of more than 95 countries. Since inception, at least 275,000 visitors have entered Qatar visa-free. In 2022, Qatar introduced digital Hayya Card, the fan identification and an entry permit into Qatar during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM, resulted in bringing 1.3 mn international visitors to Qatar. It relaunched after the tournament allowing more access for tourists who currently require visas to enter Qatar. Qatar is the safest country in the world, according to Numbeo’s Crime Index by Country 2023. Doha is ranked as the second safest city in the world, according to Numbeo’s Crime Index by City 2023. In recent years, Qatar and its capital city Doha have continued to retain their global distinction as one of the safest countries in the world. Qatar has taken the title as the world's safest country at least five times on Numbeo since in 2017. Qatar has been named the safest Arab country since 2015. Doha has been named among the top cities to live in, according to the World Best Cities 2023 rankings by Resonance Consultancy, a leading global advisor on placemaking, branding and marketing for the world’s best cities, districts, developments and destinations. The Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism named Doha as the Arab Tourism Capital for 2023 during its 25th session at the Arab League General Secretariat in December 2022.
Qatar has welcomed more than 2 mn international visitors, with May and June registering the highest figure – 567,000 – ever recorded in the last ten years. International arrivals in 2023 have so far doubled compared to the levels seen prepandemic. From 2023 to date, arrivals by air constituted 51% of all visitors to Qatar, while arrivals by land and sea comprised 37% and 12% of the total figures, respectively. Visitors from Saudi Arabia remain the top source market for international visitors this year, contributing to nearly a quarter of all arrivals. India and Germany follow.
Tourism in Qatar
Boosting tourism
Hotel and hotel apartment performance Qatar's hospitality sector witnessed an improved room yield in April 2023, mainly lifted by five-star hotels and deluxe hotel apartments, as visitor arrivals surged compared to the same month last year. This comes in view of a 231.5% annual increase in visitor arrivals.
Cruise industry Qatar continues to impress as a major international tourism destination. New data from Qatar Tourism (QT) reveals that the country welcomed 253,191 cruise visitors during its 2022–23 season (December 2022 – March 2023), an increase of 151% compared to the previous season (100,500 visitors). This sharp uptake in visitor figures is particularly impressive given that this year’s cruise season began later than usual, in December rather than October, as the Doha Port was hosting floating hotels during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ to accommodate visitors and fans. Over the past few years, QT and Mwani Qatar, the organisations responsible for managing the country’s shipping terminals and seaports, have established a number of strong relationships with international cruise operators as well as with other specialists involved in the industry. This has proved to be of great importance as Qatar benefitted from cruise ships during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM, as a means of providing additional ©
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