Private Beach at Marsa Malaz Kempinski - The Pearl Doha. Photo: www.kempinski.com
While hotels have lauded the recent announcement by the Qatari government to boost private sector investment on tourism by granting permission for five-star and four-star hotels to issue tourist visas, they have also called to improve the current tourist visa policies and procedures.
The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani recently announced a series of new measures to boost private sector investment, especially in tourism, including a permission for five-star and four-star hotels to issue tourist visas.
“Granting this is a great initiative that is not only beneficial to Qatar as a developing country, but to Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl - Doha too. The visa will allow us to bring in more traffic, adding to the professional workforce as well as continuing to highlight Doha as an upcoming city long before the Soccer World Cup,” Wissam Suleiman, Cluster General Manager, at Marsa Malaz Kempinski - The Pearl Doha and Kempinski Residences & Suites Doha, told The Peninsula.
Suleiman added: “The ease of travel is increasingly important to the region, and this initiative will ensure that Qatar is regarded as more than just a layover or stopover by our prospective clientele. By making it easier to visit our nation, we expect that world travellers will soon regard Qatar as a world class destination.”
Joey Chen, General Manager, Holiday Villa Hotel & Residence, hopes the government focus on challenges being faced by hotels with regard to policies and procedures. “Since the government is finding ways to increase tourism in the country, the management is hoping that they would be able to improve on the current policies and procedures to address the challenges that the hotels are currently facing such as the processing time and reasons for denied application,” said Chen.
He added: “As we aim to aid the country boost its tourism industry, a well-improved tourist visa policy has the potential to help widen the scope of visiting countries and can become a tourist-friendly destination. The idea of giving hassle-free tourist visa will possibly further put Qatar as a must-visit country in the Middle East," said Chen.
During a meeting with representatives of the private sector and businessmen in the presence of several ministers and representatives of the government sector in the Committee for Promoting Business and Investment Environment, the Premier also issued directives to respond to hotels' requests for working visas to cover their needs of staff in the tourism sector.
