Qatar popular tourist destination for Saudis

Qatar is an ideal destination for Saudis for a family holiday this summer, a top Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) official told Arab News on Sunday.
Abdulla Malalla Al-Bader, the QTA’s director of tourism, was speaking during a roadshow at the Ritz Carlton Hotel to raise awareness on Qatar being an ideal destination for people in the GCC to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.
Al-Bader said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Roadshow 2012 started in Alkhobar in the Eastern Province on Saturday.
“We selected Saudi Arabia as the maiden location for our roadshow because the Kingdom is an important market to our country,” the official said.
Last year, he said, 59 percent of the 845,000 tourists from the GCC countries were from the Kingdom. During the first quarter of this year, around 16,500 Saudis visited Doha for business and leisure purposes. According to reports, 72 percent of the tourists to Qatar in 2011 were MICE visitors.
Under this program, he said the QTA is targeting both Saudis and expatriates living in the Kingdom.
“The hotel and the country's national carrier (Qatar Airways) will arrange entry visas to Doha within three hours from the time of application,” he said, adding that this is a special arrangement made by the QTA in cooperation with the Qatari Ministry of Interior and the airline.
He added that the show would also tour Kuwait, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and end in Dubai on May 31.
“Qatar is fast becoming one of the emerging destinations in world travel, thanks to our strategy to highlight the range of activities on offer in Qatar,” he said.
“The promotional roadshow is to promote Qatar as a premier business and upscale leisure destination to MICE (meetings, incentive, convention, exhibitions) professionals,” Al Bader noted.
He pointed out Qatar has made significant investments domestically and internationally to encourage cultural, sport, and leisure tourism to complement the business tourism industry in the country.
“The investments are to develop Qatar’s tourism infrastructure over a five year period, including the construction of new hotels, resorts and other tourism facilities,” he said.
Qatar also hosts several international sporting championships in tennis, golf, athletics and football. Plans are under way, he said to build world-class stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The iconic Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei, has put Qatar’s capital city of Doha firmly on the cultural scene in the Middle East. Other major projects scheduled to open in the near future include the Qatar National Convention Centre, which boasts 40,000 square meters of state-of-the-art exhibition space and the New Doha International Airport, which on completion will handle up to 50 million passengers.
QTA’s tourism strategy during the roadshow will aim to promote Qatar’s authentic heritage and rich past while highlighting its focus on building for the future through creativity and innovation by promoting the five major pillars such as meetings, sports, culture, leisure and education.
The (QTA) plans to grow the tourism industry by 20 percent over the next five years.
Qatar Tourism Authority was restructured in 2009. Consequently, it was given the mandate to organize, enable, and supervise the tourism industry’s development and to organize exhibitions in Qatar, as well as represent and promote the country as a quality tourism destination for leisure, business, education, and sport.
The authority gets actively involved in organizing events and promotions which positively reflect on the general image of Qatar as an evolving tourism destination combining business with leisure.