Qatar National Tourism Council, (QNTC), the state-backed agency responsible for governing and promoting the country’s tourism sector, has reaffirmed its commitment to continue supporting the industry.
The new governing body, which replaced the Qatar Tourism Authority, has been working in close cooperation with key members and stakeholders. It has accelerated efforts to achieve its objectives and enhance the sector’s contribution to the national economy, said an official.
“We organised some 137 events in 2018, which included international conferences, exhibitions and other business related events. We are focusing more on aiding the local private sector by big bringing international events, especially business events and conferences to enhance our contribution to the economy, which is currently 2.3 percent of the GDP,” Ahmed AlObaidli (pictured), Director for Exhibitions at the organisation told The Peninsula recently.
AlObaidli leads a team of specialists to work towards growing and diversifying Qatar’s business events sector, as part of QNTC’s strategy to increase the number of business events and tourists.
“We are also working with airlines, hoteliers and others and putting attractive packages that allow international and local organizations, including Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC) to hold meetings, conferences and exhibitions”, he said.
He also noted that Qatar has all the needful infrastructure, facilities on the ground, and suitable environment that help in hosting such big events. For instance, Qatar Airways, the country’s national carrier, connects to over 150 destinations around the world. That helps in attracting more tourists direct to the country, which is increasing fast.
AlObaidli said that there is a line of events to be held over the next couple of months which include several mega events such as International Products Exhibition and Conference (IPEC, from October 8-10), Cityscape Qatar 2019 (October 22-24), INDEX Qatar 2019 (October 22-24), Hospitality Qatar (November 12-14, 2019), and a series of other events related to the healthcare, medical and other sectors.
In addition, there are several other mega events which are going to be held in Doha over the next couple of years such as the high-profile 2020 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Forum, an event owned by the International Council for Small Business (ICSB).
The average number of tourists coming to participate at a mega event is 7,000 or even more, and each participant spends at least $500. These spendings not only benefit to the tourism and hospitality industry, but also have percolating effects to other sectors of the economy.
“It’s an ecosystem. Tourism by itself is not possible without the presence of a strong airline, hotel industry and other infrastructure. Every stakeholder is important. For instance if you don’t have a world-class exhibition centre with contemporary facilities, you will not be able to attract such events,” noted AlObaidli.
According to official data, the number of tourist’s arrival to Qatar reached over 1.05 million in June 2019 (YTD).
The hospitality sector is benefiting from a surge in tourists coming to the country. Hotels and resorts are doing brisk business as their occupancy ratio has risen significantly this year compared to last year, helped by a sharp increase in tourist inflow to the country.
