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Doha: Qatar’s preparations for the FIFA World Cup will support the future tourism growth here as the country becomes the first Arab nation to host the world’s biggest sporting event this year, even demonstrating that the region can lead in the international sporting scene.
The year 2022 is also expected to be a banner year for the tourism industry. With the arrival of over one million visitors for the World Cup, the country will see strong performance in terms of tourism activities.
“The prospects for the tourism industry are positive as Qatar is expected to benefit from a rebound in arrivals from key source markets closer to home. The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be the culmination of a decade’s worth of preparation, and many first-time visitors will be able to experience the event, as well as a variety of cultural and niche offerings. As the competition draws near, private players and government officials are looking to capitalise on the event to facilitate growth in the tourism and sporting industries in the years to come,” noted the Oxford Business Group (OBG) report.
It added that “those involved in the preparation for the event are using it as a chance to leverage the competition for future tourism revenue, given that tournament will be shown on televisions around the world and in-person fans will share their impressions back home”.
The total number of inbound visitors reached about 148,000, recording an annual increase of 138.3 percent (compared to August 2021), and a monthly decrease of 1.6 percent (compared to July 2022). The highest number of visitors were from the GCC countries at 59 percent, according to data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
Whereas GCC markets contributed 62 percent to the total number of arrivals in July 2022, with visitors from Saudi Arabia taking up a leading stake (43 percent), followed by India (7 percent), Oman (6 percent), Kuwait (4 percent), Bahrain (5 percent), UAE (4 percent), USA (3 percent), and the UK (3 percent).
Regarding the infrastructure investment the OBG report said: “Attracting higher number of international arrivals will be key to ensuring that the new hotels, stadia and expanded transport centres generate the necessary returns after the tournament. This is also in line with Qatar Tourism’s goal to welcome 6 million visitors per year by 2030”.
