Minister of Sports and Youth, H E Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali, inaugurates the new headquarters of Qatar Youth Hostels in Al Sadd, Doha, in the presence of other dignitaries.
Doha: Minister of Sports and Youth, H E Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali officially inaugurated on Thursday the new headquarters of Qatar Youth Hostels (QYH) in Al Sadd area. This was in conjunction with the launch of the five-day 54th International Youth Hostel Federation’s events with the participation of delegations from over 30 countries.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Libyan Minister of Youth, H E Fathallah Al Zani; head of International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF), Stephan Kurmann; Secretary-General of Arab Federation of Youth Hostel, Ashraf Ali Othman, and a host of youth hostels leaders worldwide.
Executive Director of QYH Ahmed Hassan Al Obaidli said that the new QYH headquarters includes a number of facilities, including a reception area, an outdoor session meeting room, activity hall, swimming pool, a gym, a business centre, as well as car parking area.
He pointed out that the diversity of chambers in the new headquarters comprise of 16 deluxe rooms, 29 combined double rooms, one room for people with special needs, a combined quadruple room for females, two combined rooms for males, eight family rooms, in addition to four private suites, with a capacity for 152 people.
The number of guests in Qatari youth hostels amounted to a total of 1,479 guests in July, mainly from Asia; 983 guests from Africa, 153 guests from Europe, 37 from North America, 28 from South America, and one guest from Oceania, bringing the total number of guests to roughly 2,681 guests representing 77 nationalities.
He underlined that QYH, stemming from its vision, is working to encourage young people to migrate and have cultural exchange by providing a conducive and rich environment.
Its mission is primarily embodied in the ambitious young people who are passionate about exploring the world with a high level of awareness and capability to positively interact with the entire civilisations.
The key goals of youth hostels entail the promotion of internal and external tourism for young people and expand their concepts, promote values and build the capacities of young people with respect to the relevant human development topics, as well as utilising the scientific approach in approaching the nature.
The Head of Youth Centres Department at the Ministry of Sports and Youth, Fawaz Al Misufri emphasised that the inauguration of the new headquarters comes within the framework of the ministry’s keenness to modernise the infrastructure and provide young people with the best services.
He said that the building that has been inaugurated is one of the best five hostels worldwide, and holds quality certificate within the international youth hostels. This includes ISO certificate, which unequivocally underscores the ministry’s keenness to empower young people and offer all means required to proceed with optimising this sector.
The inauguration came in coincidence with Qatar’s hosting the 54th International Youth Hostel Federation Conference. It convened its first sessions yesterday morning with the participation of representatives from over 30 countries.
It affirms the fact that Qatari youth hostels have assiduously worked to attain the maximum readiness, specially that Qatar is preparing to host FIFA World Cup 2022 to underscore the high priority the country attaches to youth, in addition to harnessing the entire potential available to advance this sector.
The 54th International Youth Hostel Federation Conference started yesterday in conjunction with the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the federation. It was founded in 1932 to unify the youth hostels worldwide and is considered the largest young institution worldwide operating under the umbrella of Unesco and is ubiquitous in 74 countries, including over 4,000 youth hostels worldwide.
