Qatar’s move to attract people from around the world yielded considerable mileage in the international arena despite the circumstances the country is going through over the last one year after the unjust siege imposed on it by some neighbouring countries.
According to a report of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Qatar has become the most open country in the Middle East and the 8th most open in the world in terms of visa facilitation.
The recently updated visa openness rankings of UNWTO pointed out that Qatar’s openness score has jumped by 71.3 points since 2014, when it ranked 177th. It’s a remarkable achievement for a country like this when it’s undergoing an unjust siege for more than a year.
It is very heartening to see that the report is from a United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. As the leading international organisation in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
The high ranking of Qatar in the report reflects a series of visa facilitation measures introduced by the country, including allowing nationals of 88 countries to enter Qatar visa-free and free-of-charge.
Qatar’s increased openness is showing the increase in number of visitors arriving in India. Notable increases in arrival volumes in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017 came from India (18%), China (43%) and Russia, which grew most significantly with a 366% jump.
The UNWTO also measures the mobility of a country’s citizens, or the extent to which citizens are affected by other countries’ visa policies with highly mobile citizens being able to travel easily and seamlessly to most other countries.
While Qatar currently ranks 106th in the world in terms of mobility, it is worth noting that 20 of the countries benefiting from the Qatari visa waiver are already reciprocating.
Qatar embarked on a journey to enhance visa facilitation and ensure Qatar is ready to welcome the world in 2014, when Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) commissioned UNWTO to conduct a visa facilitation study.
“Qatar has implemented and overachieved the recommendations of the study, setting an example by spearheading safe and seamless travel, enhancing the visitor experience and better placing itself to improve mobility for its citizens,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. This shows that QTA’s last year campaign, ‘Qatar Welcomes the World’, has already drawn great successes in the recent past.
New campaigns along with new visa facilitation measures have already started giving results. A great achievement, indeed.
