Qatar’s tourism sector has seen a significant growth over the past few years, making the country a leading tourist destination in the region. Successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 coupled with the opening of a number of tourist places have given a boost to the tourism industry. It’s a sector with huge potential as the country aims to further diversify its economy.
Qatar welcomed more than four million visitors last year and the country targets to attract more than six million visitors a year, and raise the sector’s contribution to GDP to 12 percent by 2030.
Qatar has also been selected to host 13th session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) in 2026. This was announced at the 12th session of the conference held in Khiva, Uzbekistan, this week. ICTM aims to develop and cooperate in the field of tourism and decisions related to this field, in addition to implementing a road map based on a unified strategy among the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the progress made to implement tourism infrastructure projects. Doha was also declared Arab Tourism Capital for 2023 by the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism.
The government has paid special attention to the development of the tourism sector. The Shura Council has also discussed ways to develop the sector and address challenges facing it. Chairman of Qatar Tourism H E Saad bin Ali Al Kharji briefed the Shura Council on the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 and Qatar Tourism’s efforts and plans to achieve the goals set for the tourism sector, on Monday.
He said the 2030 tourism strategy seeks to cement Qatar's position as a global tourist destination by benefiting from the country's cultural and geographical diversity. He said developing tourism infrastructure is one of the pillars of the strategy, along with improving the quality of services provided and adopting the best international practices in this field, with the aim of increasing the contribution of tourism to the national economy and attaining sustainable development that takes into account environmental and social dimensions.
Speaker of the Shura Council H E Hassan bin Abdulla Al Ghanim welcomed the efforts to advance the tourism sector and encourage investment in it in order to meet the goals of national development and the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030, and implement the directives of the wise leadership in this field.
With state’s continued efforts to improve visitors’ experience and growth of tourism infrastructure, the sector is primed to continue its growth in the coming period.
