By Raynald C Rivera The Peninsula
DOHA: For the first time organisers of the Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) have introduced water taxis as a transport option for visitors who wish to explore the culinary offerings at the three festival venues.
Four water taxis are available to transport visitors between the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park, which is the main venue of the festival, and QIFF satellite locations including Katara and The Pearl-Qatar.
“Every year, we look into the festival and think how we can expand and provide a better experience to the visitors. One of the options we have suggested this year and hopefully will be successfully implemented is the water taxi,” Mashal Shahbik, Director of Festivals & Events at Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) told local media at the opening of QIFF yesterday.
The water taxis, which can accommodate ten passengers each, will operate on a fixed schedule to take people from MIA Park to The Pearl-Qatar and Katara and back.
“We are offering the water taxis for an affordable price of QR25 per person (one way) on a first come first served basis,” she said, adding the taxis will operate from 4pm to 9.15pm.
Those interested to take the water taxi should reserve a seat and time because the seats are limited. There’s also age restriction for passengers. “We have age restriction for children for safety purposes. We don’t want accidents; we want everyone to enjoy the festival,” she added. Two companies are providing the water taxis under the supervision of the QTA to ensure safety standards. Shahbik said the water taxis is among the several transport services at the festival in addition to the park and ride shuttle buses, limousine and Uber services making the festival easier to reach than before. Festival-goers may park cars opposite Doha Marriott Hotel or at Old Doha Airport Arrivals Parking where they can take shuttle buses to MIA Park for free. There is a limousine service at both parking areas for QR35. UBER is offering QR50 discount on the first two rides for new users using QIFF16 as a promo code.
