Travel in Qatar

Saudi-led blockade on Qatar still negatively impacting arrivals

Qatar’s annual inbound arrivals continue to be negatively affected by the political events in the region and the Saudi-led blockade that was imposed on Qatar in mid-2017. While the majority Qatar’s visitors used to come from neighbouring countries, the border closures and travel bans has led to a large decline in arrivals from GCC countries.

E-strategy and visa waiving helps diversify traveller profiles and source markets

Key government strategies were implemented in response to the geopolitical situation to boost tourism, including introducing an e-visa platform, which allows travellers of all nationalities to apply for tourist visas online. In mid-2017 Qatar also introduced a visa waiver for citizens of more than 80 countries, which allows these citizens to obtain a free visa entry to the country for 30 or 90 days depending on their nationality.

Hotels performing relatively better than other areas of travel in Qatar

Hotels has seen current value growth in 2018 despite the imposition of the blockade, which is mainly as a result of the average length of stay being longer as well as the visitors profile meaning that there is little demand for other types of lodging. The government is also spending significant sums in lodging and plans to make significant additions to the country’s hotel capacity in a bid to prepare itself for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Qatar Airways as a pillar of Travel’s recovery

Airlines and in particular Qatar Airways had to innovate and evolve their products in order to overcome the Gulf crisis. As a result, new long-haul routes to Turkey, Russia, Oman, Thailand and the Czech Republic, amongst others were opened.

Recovery is expected in Qatar’s travel industry over the forecast period

Travel and tourism in Qatar is expected to recover over the forecast period, with the government aiming to increase its presence in non-traditional markets such as China – the largest outbound tourism market in the world – with it activating the newly opened Qatar Tourism Authority’ s representative office there. Similarly, 2018 will also see the opening of representative offices in Russia and India.

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