Assistant Undersecretary for Municipal Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) Mansour Abdullah Al Mahmoud
Doha: Ever wondered what it feels like to live in a Qatari house? Tourists coming to Qatar especially during the World Cup next year may take a step closer to immersing themselves in the local culture.
According to the Assistant Undersecretary for Municipal Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) Mansour Abdullah Al Mahmoud, discussions are currently ongoing between the Qatar Tourism and MME to include Qatari houses as additional option for holiday accommodation for the tourists.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the Build Your House 2021 exhibition which concluded at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) yesterday, Al Mahmoud said: “The Qatar Tourism is making a new regulation to let the (Qatari) people rent their houses to tourists on short-term basis. There are current discussions between the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and the Qatar Tourism to make a regulation regarding this. Tourist s also come for investments. And I think there will be (Qatari) people who will be willing to rent their houses for the upcoming World Cup”.
Once approved, World Cup visitors may opt to stay in the Qatari houses, in addition to a plethora of accommodation options including hotels, onboard cruise ships, luxury campsites, and other regulated holiday homes.
It may be noted that Qatar Tourism recently issued regulations in the operations of its ‘Holiday Homes’ program in the country. Owners who rent apartments or villas in tourist areas or standalone villas in other areas were encouraged to apply for a licence and undergo a classification process to have their properties rented out to tourists from across the world for a temporary period not exceeding 30 consecutive days.
“We now feel that things are back to normal. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued issuing building permits. And we see that construction and building permits are on an upward trend. Especially for the World Cup 2022 accommodations. Many projects like compounds and big buildings are being completed to be rented out to the World Cup visitors and fans. Also, building permits have been increasing steadily,” added Al Mahmoud.
According to the latest figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) and MME, there were 254 new building completion certificates for residential and non-residential properties in August 2021, which constituted 68 percent of the total building certificates issued, compared to 119 additions and fencings certificates (32 percent) issued.
For the new residential buildings completion certificates issued, Villas topped the list, accounting for 72 percent (152 certificates) of all new residential buildings’ completion certificates, followed by dwellings of housing loans certificates by 23 percent (48 certificates), and the apartments buildings by 4 percent (9 certificates).
