Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) launched a new tourism project named Samana (Our Skies), which provides helicopter tours and sightseeing in and around Qatar.

The new tourism project will see helicopter tours organised to view Qatari sites. QTA has created this new touristic attraction and developed the idea with support from Ministry of Transport and the Qatar Armed Forces, and it will be operated by Gulf Helicopters.

QTA also reached a partnership agreement with Regency Travels, which expressed an interest to promote and sell this experience through its offices.

The 'Samana' project' aims to attract leisure travellers to Qatar. This will boost Qatar's national tourism strategy towards 2030, which seeks to increase the ratio of visitors who are seeking leisure tourism in Qatar from currently 27% to 60% of all visitors by 2030.

Total visitor arrivals to Qatar grew by 8% in the first half of 2014 reaching 1.42 million. More than half a million GCC nationals (536,264) visited Qatar, representing 38% of tourists.

In the first half of 2014, the average hotel occupancy rose from 67% to 74% compared to the same period of last year. Total revenue at 4- & 5-Star hotels increased by 4%, reaching QR 1.98 billion, while total revenue at 3-star hotels reached QR 82.51 million in a growing area of the hotel market.

A diverse range of events and activities in Qatar, along with increased regional and international presence during the first half of 2014, contributed to growth in the leisure tourism sector.

Check Samana's factsheet for more information below