Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Qatar’s long-term plans to make the country a favourite tourist destination in the region are fully on track as the entities concerned, in both private and public sectors, are implementing tourism-related projects.
Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) has recently announced the upcoming events for 2021 through its online platform, Qatar Calendar. Qatar Calendar unifies and coordinates efforts with QNTC’s partners from across the public and private sectors, allowing them to leverage major sporting competitions, entertainment festivals, exhibitions, and conferences.
In 2021, Qatar will host major international sporting events such as FIFA Club World Cup, Qatar ExxonMobil Open, and FIFA Arab Cup 2021, in addition to local tournaments such as Algalayel Championship and Al Udeid Desert Challenge. 2021 will also witness the return of exhibitions and festivals such as Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition, Heya Arabian Fashion Show, Milipol Qatar, Qatar Motor Show, Shop Qatar, Ajyal Film Festival, Qatar International Food Festival, Qatar Life and many more. Definitely these and all other events of Qatar Calendar will attract visitors from across the world to Qatar.
Qatar’s tourism sector witnessed 11 percent growth during January to August 31, 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. In 2019, Qatar was also ranked on top in the Middle East and number eight globally in Business Environment by the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), in cooperation with Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC), is also set to organise an event to announce investment opportunities to establish three beach resorts in Qatar, in partnership between the public and private sectors. These opportunities include establishing large beach resorts of various sizes in Ras Abrouq, Fuwayrit, and Bin Ghannam.
In a related development, Chairman of Katara Hospitality, Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, has said that the company has a huge plan to establish nearly 60 hotels by 2030. He explained that Katara Hospitality now has 42 hotels and more than 25,000 rooms, while in 2000 it had about 4,000 rooms, considering that a huge progressive rate in the company’s development, and stressing that it will never stop expanding.
On Thursday, Salwa Beach Resort in Qatar offered a special preview to Desert Falls Water and Adventure Park, one of the largest theme parks in the Middle East. All these projects and related developments indicate that Qatar’s dream of becoming tourist destination of the region will be materialised soon and the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the sector in 2020 will disappear sooner than later.
