Qatar yesterday launched the Next Chapter of its National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 in the presence of tourism luminaries during the opening ceremony of the official celebration of the World Tourism Day at Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel.
Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani officially announced the launch of the second phase of the roadmap which charts the next five years of the tourism sector’s growth in Qatar. “In line with Qatar’s comprehensive development, the State has taken a series of unprecedented measures that shall enhance the performance of the tourism sector and put Qatar among the most open countries in the region, and yet maintain our identity, values and principles,” said the Prime Minister.
He said the five-year plan, which was approved by the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment, is of crucial importance to accelerating the pace of tourism projects that will attract tourists to visit Qatar, as well as activating policies that will promote growth of the sector. The Prime Minister revealed plans to open up new markets such as China, India and Russia, as well as strengthen Qatar’s presence in Europe, America and Asia, in addition to diversifying tourism products and offering investment opportunities to the private sector.
He also announced that in the coming months, the sector’s governance will be reorganised around a new National Tourism Council that is empowered to focus and integrate the efforts of key stakeholders and facilitators in ways that will provide clarity, direction, and momentum for the tourism sector´s improvement and growth.
Hassan Al Ibrahim, Acting Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), said the revised tourism strategy was a product of QTA’s collaboration with public and private sector partners, gathering input from over 20 leaders from both sectors, six workshops with more than 120 stakeholders, interviews with hotel managers and tour operators and consultation with tourism experts and global benchmarking studies.
The Next Chapter defines what Qatar will be known for as a tourist destination, and guides the development of products, services, and experiences that will bring this vision to fruition.
Tourism expansion
Al Ibrahim added that the Next Chapter introduces a tourism blueprint for the country, outlining how this positioning will come to life over the next five years. This blueprint identifies six geographic zones across the country and ties each zone to tourism themes based on the area´s geographic characteristics and natural assets. Local and international investors will be invited to develop tourism products and services in each geographic zone, in line with its proposed theme.
He continued, “The opportunities presented in the Next Chapter are boundless. Professionals, investors, and the people of Qatar, all have the chance to be part of building what Qatar will be known for in the minds of visitors, for decades to come.”
In addition to the development of tourism products, the Next Chapter also details a plan to expand the country´s calendar of year-round tourism festivals and events, and to generate global interest in the country through expanding Qatar´s global network of tourism promotion offices.
Ensuring the best possible end-to-end experience for visitors to Qatar is at the heart of the Next Chapter. The strategy lays out plans and measures that are designed to ensure favourable experiences at every touch point of the visitor´s journey. These include programs to facilitate interactions and shared experiences between Qatar´s residents and its guests, as well as the creation of tourism experience units in all relevant public and private sector entities that will be tasked with ensuring that their organisations´ services are continuously enhanced to provide remarkable experiences for Qatar´s visitors.
The next five years will also witness intensive efforts to ensure infrastructure, both physical and digital, is in place to facilitate visitors´ journeys to, from and within Qatar. In addition, training programmes will be developed and provided to all government and private sector employees in tourist-facing jobs.
To achieve the Next Chapter´s targets, Qatar´s leadership has announced a new governance structure for the tourism sector to coordinate, consolidate and focus the efforts of its key members and stakeholders. QTA will become the National Tourism Council, and will report to a Board of high-level representatives, chaired by the Prime Minister. The Board will guide the overall development of the sector, monitor tourism sector performance, and ensure cross-sector collaboration and focus.
The Board of the National Tourism Council will also oversee three new entities that will be charged with developing large-scale tourism products and experiences, promoting the destination internationally, and consolidating the efforts of existing stakeholders in the business events sub-sector.
Attracts investors
He added that by putting new policies and structures in place, the Next Chapter aims to further develop important sector enablers, such as a supportive regulatory framework for tourism establishments, enhancing the ease of doing business in the sector, and additional visa facilitation measures to increase visitor access to Qatar.
The Next Chapter aims to attract 5.6m visitors to Qatar annually by 2023, double the number which the country welcomed in 2016. It also aims to achieve a 72 percent occupancy rate across all hotel establishments, through a combination of increasing demand and diversifying the country´s tourist accommodation offering.
Also by 2023, the strategy aims to have increased tourism´s direct contribution to Qatar´s GDP from QR19.8b in 2016 to QR41.3b, representing a direct contribution to the GDP of 3.8 percent compared to 3.5 percent in 2016. Taleb Al Rifai, Secretary-General of World Tourism Organization, said “UNWTO is pleased to see Qatar’s commitment to position tourism as a sector to diversify the economy, enhance sustainability-environmental, economic, and cultural – and a national priority for the coming five years. “The changes that Qatar will be undergoing in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
