DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) — Qatar launched its new tourism strategy during the World Tourism Day official celebration in Doha on Wednesday (September 27). The new five-year plan aims to attract 5.6 million visitors by the year 2023 and for tourism to contribute 3.8% of the country’s GDP.
The new Qatar Tourism Strategy is launched at a time when the country is facing various restrictions regarding air travel and border closures by neighboring countries who are part of the current diplomatic crisis in the region.
Last year Qatar received 1.4 million visitors in the first six months of 2016, including 665,355 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals. Saudi Arabia, which now bans its citizens from traveling to Qatar, was the largest market, bringing to Qatar 39,650 Saudi visitors in that period, according to Qatar Tourism Authority statistics.
Head of Tourism Development Sector at Qatar Tourism Authority, Hassan Al Ibrahim, said the new visa facilitation policies will compensate for the decline in number of visitors from neighboring countries and attract tourists from different markets. Recently Qatar waived visa requirements for citizens of 80 countries.
“We are sure that through diversification of targeted markets that we accelerated recently, we will achieve our goals. The losses in the previous period will be compensated in the coming period. However, as a tourist destination, what’s important for us is the social and cultural sustainability. We don’t want to develop a tourism sector that is not sustainable. We don’t want to develop a tourism sector that doesn’t represent Qatari identity and spirit,” he said.
Qatar’s new tourism strategy focuses on local experiences like desert safari, hunting and pearl diving trips and eco-tourism at local natural reserves. In the past, Qatar has hosted events like traditional dhow exhibitions, marine heritage festivals and desert caravan challenges.
Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Taleb al-Rifai, said the recent developments in the region, including some restrictions on air space or cross border movement, will only have a temporary effect on the country’s tourism influx.
“The strategy was affected by the situation in the region, so it will address some of the gaps that might be present now. I don’t think the current situation will have medium or long-term effects. God willing, things will get back to normal and the effects will be very limited,” said al-Rifai.
Al-Rifai also said that as Qatar targets new markets, it needs to diversify its tourism products to cater to visitors from different economic categories.
“Qatar is not an overly expensive tourist destination, however the available products are of high price. There is a need to diversify the tourist products to include three and two star hotels, while maintaining quality, instead of limiting available offers to expensive products,” he said.
Qatar’s new strategy will focus on partnerships with the private sector to develop new products that would attract tourists from the new targeted markets.
Last year, energy company Sasol launched an application that provides information about disability access at touristic sites in Qatar.
General manager of public affairs at Sasol company, Jack Saba, said that the increase in the number of senior travelers, who have disability or physical movement difficulties, will have a significant impact on the inclusive travel sector in general and the application will encourage these travelers to visit the country.
“Accessible Qatar was launched in June last year. It’s an application and website that shows Qatar’s map and the different tourist locations in terms of accessibility. When information became available online, people with disabilities were able to check different sites and how accessible they are before they go out. This initiative supports the tourism for people with disabilities,” said Saba.
In his opening remarks al-Rifai said that travel and tourism is the third largest export industry in the world today, after chemicals and fuels. The UNWTO’s long-term forecasts show that by the year 2030, the number of travelers will reach 1.8 billion.
