As Qatar Summer Festival (QSF) 2015 wrapped up on Monday, organizers at Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) and its partners took stock of the successes marked over the course of the month in the tourism, retail and hotel sectors.

Qatar Living was the Community Partner for the second edition of the summer festival.

As curtains descended over the last live stage show at Entertainment City (EC), organisers recorded over 250,000 visits, a remarkable increase from last year's 130,000 visits.

The popular Entertainment City featured exciting rides, games and regular stage performances, in addition to a trade fair of 125 stalls.

This year's Festival offered special packages at 26 hotels around Qatar, in addition to shopping promotions in malls across the country.

The month of offers was punctuated with weekly raffle draws that gave shoppers the chance to win up to 50,000 in cash and one of eight cars.

The last draw took place in Villaggio, where winners' names were picked out of 54,750 coupons, bringing the total number of coupons entered throughout the Festival to more than 160,000.

Audiences inside and outside Qatar engaged with the Festival through the social media competition "Sabah Rabah", held in collaboration with Al Rayyan TV, the official QSF media partner.

The competition, which tested participants' knowledge of Qatar's culture and touristic landmarks, received responses from nearly 4,000 participants and announced 20 winners throughout the month, awarding them free hotel stays, spa packages and other prizes.

Now in its second edition, Qatar Summer Festival is expected to be a pillar of QTA's events and festivals strategy.

This year's Festival came between Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha Festivals, which contributed to transforming what is usually an off-peak season into a period of significant activity in the hotel and retail sectors."

According to Mashal Shahbik, Events and Festivals Manager at QTA, plans for the 2016 edition are underway and will seek to build on the success of 2015 as well as factor in feedback from audiences in 2015.

"We worked this year to ensure a variety of offerings that could cater to the different tastes and ages among visitors and residents," she added.

"The numbers this year show that the various events and offers were a huge draw, and we will continue to build on this strategy in years to come."

Qatar Summer Festival 2015 concluded with a series of live shows, including two Arabic music concerts and Doha Comedy Day, an event featuring six stand-up comedians from around the Gulf which drew over 1,000 spectators.

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