Qatar Plans To Invest $45bn In Tourism By 2030

The government and the private sector will invest around $45 billion in Qatar’s tourism sector by 2030, said Hassan Al Ibrahim, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) director of strategy at the unveiling of the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030.

Qatar’s latest tourism plan will help expand the economy, grow the number of SMEs, encourage entrepreneurship and actively involves the private sector, a statement said.

The strategy also has plans to increase the total tourist spend in Qatar to nearly $10.7 billion and aims to achieve a greater balance in the breakdown of tourists by their origin and purpose of visit. More than 60 new tourism development initiatives are in the pipeline, QTA said.

“Our target is to attract seven million visitors to Qatar from all over the world by 2030,” said Al Ibrahim.

The new Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC) and the Hamad International Airport, both of which are scheduled to open in 2014, will further help in boosting tourist numbers, the statement said.

QTA added that it will closely monitor the initiatives planned under the strategy and will ensure their timely implementation.

“Qatar has built a strong foundation for the tourism sector by developing a plethora of cultural offerings, sporting events, MICE facilities and leisure options,” said Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, chairman of QTA.

“The end result of the National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 will be a thriving tourism sector that will be ready to handle the demands of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and far beyond. It will take a collaborative effort from all of Qatar working towards the success of our goals – the legacy of this strategy will be better infrastructure and higher quality of leisure and entertainment for us all.”

Qatar is also expected to create around 127,000 tourism jobs by 2030, according to Al-Ibrahim.

The hotel occupancy in Qatar during the third quarter of last year rose to 57 per cent owing to an addition of 600 rooms to the market, up 4.73 per cent from the same period in 2012.

Total revenue of four star and five star hotels increased by QAR85.3 million, QTA reported.