Qatar's Tourist Expansion Will Be Fueled by The Cruise Tourism

According to a major official, Qatar Tourist (QT) sees the tourism sector recovering, with a solid performance in cruise tourism.

On the sidelines of the Qatar Creates press event on Monday at M7 in Msheireb Downtown Doha, QT Chief Operating Officer Berthold Trenkel remarked, "Cruise has helped us a lot; the cruise season (December to June) is building up." Almost 58,000 passengers and crews were welcomed during the first half of the cruise season, which began in 2021/22.

At the midpoint of the season, 18 cruise ships have docked at Doha Port, with 12 more scheduled for the remainder of the season. Furthermore, QT previously stated that the top nations arriving at Doha Port include Belgians, Brazilians, French, Indians, Italians, Germans, Spaniards, and the United Kingdom. GCC visitors have increased and are projected to increase even more next year as a result of QT's cooperation with Emerald Cruises.

Trenkel stated that the number of tourists arriving in the summer is smaller than in the winter, and that Qatar Tourism has unique programs in place to promote and drive the summer tourism sector. Tourists from neighboring GCC countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait are currently visiting the country during this season.

During Eid in May, a large number of visitors descended on the country, and officials expect even more to arrive by the end of the month, just in time for the next Eid Al Adha Eid holiday.

Because the countries have eased travel restrictions, North America and Europe are the primary markets for Qatar Tourism. "I got on a plane last week, and flights are packed, and Hamad International Airport (HIA) is crowded," he remarked.

In May, HIA recorded a 162 percent growth in passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. During that time, it served a total of 7.14 million passengers.

He stated they will launch a campaign by the end of the month to attract more transit visitors, "it should go live in major areas like Australia and the United Kingdom [since] that's where the transit traffic mostly originates from." He emphasized that QT is attempting to profit from the stopover campaign.

The peak season begins in November and lasts until March or April. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will take place at the end of this year, and the COO revealed that his staff is already working on the first quarter of 2023, prior to and after this quadrennial international event. "You will see a lot of activities that Qatar Tourism is organizing in Q1 since it will be busy, and everything will be sold out during the World Cup."

"Not totally recovered yet," Trenkel said when asked if the country's tourism business has fully recovered and can be compared to pre-COVID-19 years. That has nothing to do with Qatar; it has to do with different situations; different countries are still dealing with COVID-19; we are the ones who are doing well, and you can see that in Europe; life is very much back to normal, and we hope it stays that way."