Qatar Tourism Chairman HE Saad bin Ali Al Kharji said the country was closer than ever to introducing the GCC Unified Visa.

Speaking to CNN, Al Kharji said almost 44% of visitors to Qatar were from the Gulf region. He underlined their importance in the development of Qatar’s tourism sector.

“We’ll soon start issuing tourist visas for Gulf Cooperation Council countries. It’ll be promoted as a visa that can be used to travel to all six Gulf nations. The increase in the number of visitors from GCC nations indicates that Qatar has become a preferred destination for people from neighbouring countries. The rest of the visitors are mainly from Europe and USA, which are also priority markets for us,” he told CNN.

“In the Qatar Tourism Strategy, we’ve identified 15 source markets. GCC countries are indeed one of our main markets. We also want to promote Qatar as a destination in other markets like UK, USA, Germany, India, and China,” he added.

Al Kharji said Qatar was investing heavily into technologies that could help boost tourism significantly.

“We’re looking to invest in technologies that could contribute to the growth of the tourism sector. We’re working on modernising the Haya platform, which was first introduced prior to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It’s grown to become the country’s digital gateway. Qatar Tourism will also invest in the digitization of services through the ‘Visit Qatar’ platform,” Al Kharji said.

Al Kharji, speaking at the 2024 Global Exhibitions Day, said Qatar had become the most open country in the world in terms of visa facilitation, allowing people from 102 nations to be granted visas on arrival.

He noted that Qatar’s commitment to hosting large-scale global events was an important means by which it was fulfilling the objective of becoming the fastest-growing tourism destination in the Middle East by 2030.

“We’ve welcomed over six million visitors between 2023 and this year. In 2023, we welcomed over four million visitors, and up until April 2024, we’ve received another two million visitors,” Al Kharji said.

MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) has become one of the main pillars driving growth in Qatar’s tourism sector, he said.

“In Qatar, we boast of state-of-the-art MICE facilities, with two world-class venues offering a combined exhibition capacity of 70,000SqM,” he said.

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