Pic: Twitter.com/VisitQatar
Doha: Doha is expected to see the highest growth in the world in tourist arrivals. The visitor arrivals in Doha are projected to grow by 104 percent by 2025, making it the fastest-growing tourist destination among the major cities worldwide.
The city is expected to see over 4.51 million visitors in 2025, compared to 2.21 million visitors in 2018, according to a travel solution provider, TravelSupermarket which is part of United Kingdom-based Moneysupermarket Group.
Doha has surpassed many other renowned places such as Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Jakarta, Phuket and San Francisco in terms of growth in visitor arrivals.
Phuket is projected to see 85 percent growth in visitor arrivals during 2018-2025 period while Jakarta is expected to witness 78 percent growth in visitor arrivals in the same period. The growth is expected to be 75 percent for Beijing, 71 percent for Seoul, 89 percent for Bangkok, 63 percent for Singapore and 61 percent for San Franciso.
“We have already seen significant growth in tourist arrivals this growth will further increase in future because of measures taken by Qatar National Tourism Council and other government agencies to attract tourists. Citizens of several countries are now already allowed visa-free entry to Qatar.
"We may see more countries to be added on this list of visa-free entry, which will further boost country’s tourism industry,” Zaheer Yousuf, Manager, Retail Sales and Industry Affairs, Darwish Travel told The Peninsula.
“We have also seen addition of new architectural marvel such as National Museum of Qatar in Qatar’s tourism landscape. Doha Metro is now running and the FIFA World Cup is also approaching. All these developments will attract tourists from across the globe,” Yousuf added.
Qatar has taken raft of measures in the past to boost tourism, including allowing nationals of several countries to enter Qatar visa-free and free-of-charge.
As a result, Qatar became the most open country in the Middle East and the 8th most open in the world in terms of visa facilitation according to The World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) visa openness rankings. Recently Doha was picked by The New York Times in their ‘52 Places to Go in 2019’ list. Doha also made into Forbes’ top 15 places to visit in 2019.
“Cruise tourism will also play crucial role in bringing more tourists to Qatar. We are seeing continuous increase in number of cruise tourists coming to the country,” said Yousuf.
Last week, a new cruise passenger terminal was inaugurated at Doha Port that will support the country’s strategy to develop cruise tourism.
Around 235,000 tourists in 74 cruise ships are expected to arrive at Doha Port in the 2019-20 season, making it the busiest season so far, according to Mwani Qatar.
