Qatar has been working to attract an increasing number of visitors, tourists, professionals and business people, and has taken a number of steps to further simplify its visa regime. The country allows nationals of a hundred countries either visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry and has recently revamped the Hayya platform it launched for the World Cup fans to issue visit and tourist visas. People from around the globe can now easily obtain a visit visa to Qatar through the platform.
Qatar has also extended the visa validity, through the Hayya platform, of all the World Cup ticket holders until January 2024. Furthermore, an approved international Hayya 2022 holder can invite up to five international guests through the platform. Hayya will now serve as a single portal for all tourist and business visas to Qatar, streamlining the visa application process for visitors, GCC residents, and companions travelling with GCC nationals.
The initiative is set to draw in thousands of additional tourists to Qatar and help the country solidify its status as a major tourism destination in the Middle East, in line with the tourism strategy 2030. For individuals entering Qatar by land via Abu Samra border, the Hayya platform will provide a pre-registration option for faster entry for vehicles. Officials has announced a turnaround time of 48 hours for visa applications through the Hayya platform.
More than 1.4 million fans from across the globe visited Qatar for the FIFA World Cup 2022, and the country has already welcomed over a million visitors since the turn of the year. Qatar has also welcomed tens of thousands of tourists aboard more than 50 cruise ships that visited Doha Port over the past three and a half months. Qatar targets to attract more than six million visitors a year, and raise the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) to 12 percent by 2030.
Meanwhile, Qatar will host the International Horticultural Expo 2023 Doha from October this year to March 2024, where the organisers expect three million visitors. The preparations for the expo are over 80 percent complete and officials are also discussing arranging visits for travellers transiting through Hamad International Airport to the expo site in Al Bidda Park.
Doha has also been recognised as the Arab Tourism Capital for 2023. In fact, Qatar has a lot to offer to tourists and visitors throughout the year. Thanks to Qatar Tourism campaigns, the country has been successful to draw in tourists even during the summer months.
