Qatar: A Vision for Sustainable Tourism Development

[Tallsmurf]

Originally Posted by Halawala

The niche Qatar is trying to create a freindly environment for short-term visitors.

By short-term visitors do you mean long weekenders or city-breaks - true tourists who come to Doha to try something new??? There are very few of these around.

Or are the overwhelming majority of these short-term visitors businessmen who come here because this is where the work is. They will come anyway.

[yaasar]

They would be businessmen and other people who come here fro conferences, meetings etc. The aim I believe is induce these people to stay a little longer than necessary and getting them to bring along family and friends by getting in these new hotels, the pearl, golf courses,lusail, etc

[clearsky]

I am sure QATAR will prosper but they have a reputation for being a dull place. Yesterday the editor of Sports Illustrated Magazine was on David Letterman’s show (based in NY) and he was mentioning quite vehemently how boring he felt QATAR was when he went to cover for the Asian games and that he was the only American guy in the stadium watching games.

This world runs on reputation and image. QATAR needs to improve on reputation as well as other areas.

[suzan]

Opsss...

That was rude...
Anyway, I hate that show!!

[Maltaboy]

Go Qatar, Go !

[yaasar]

Originally Posted by suzan

Opsss...

That was rude...
Anyway, I hate that show!!

Well...that was the truth....sometimes it hurts...

[AlexanderSS]

I were in Qatar in about 4 days, and I didn't find the country boring at all. It was nice to see "real" arabians in the malls etc., with their (your) national suits, and not like in Dubai, where all looks like us europeans (in clothing).

[crazyeight]

Dubai is not the whole of UAE...

[Tallsmurf]

Originally Posted by yaasar

The aim I believe is induce these people to stay a little longer than necessary and getting them to bring along family and friends by getting in these new hotels, the pearl, golf courses,lusail, etc

So I was right earlier - the strategy is to say - there's nothing here, but bring a friend and you'll be all right......

[yaasar]

Very much..what do you think would attract people to qatar ? There is nothing here that can bring in people like in Amsterdam, Egypt, Greece, Spain, Thailand, even Dubai.
They should try to cash in on the sun and beaches they have here.

[SRF78]

I have to admit... Qatar is not a tourist place...

Living here is quite difficult when you are in my situation: a bachelor.

I believe Qatar is boring when you are not married and live with your wife and kids.. Everything here is made for the comfort of the family.

The best expression I heard to describe Qatar is: "ScreenSaver" Nothing moves or changes... During the week, after you went to a Cafe, ate at the restaurant, walked on the corniche and watched a movie in the cinema... you do the same things over and over again... Hence the Screensaver expression...

Moreover, if qatar is trying to be a luxury destination it has to be worth the money people would be paying whether it is the hotels, outtings...

Qatar is not offering alternatives to tourists...

Really far from being Dubai... even Lebanon...

I wish sometimes lebanon had the oil and gas reserves that GCC countries have so that we would really develop our tourism...

Cheers

[bhaggy3]

Lebanon does well without need for investment in tourism, rather before the recent war. People in the Middle East love to go there for Skiing and it is change from the desert ridden countries such as those of the UAE and Qatar included.

[Qatarifreak]

This is my opinion on what Qatar is trying to achieve. Being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is trying to cater to working professionals. It has no desire to become like Dubai. I don't think the Qatari Government wants our country to be a target for binge drinkers and clubbers. Qatar wants to be the regional leader in education (education city), cultural heritage (museums), conferences (many convention centers), and health industry (Al Sidra, HMC).

If you analyze the projects that are being constructed, most of them are residential, commercial, and hospitality. The largest number of tourists that arrive, are either people attending conferences, family members or friends of expats, job seekers, and few are curious tourists. At the same time hotels, and other leisure projects are taking place to increase the entertainment offerings.

Is Qatar boring? it's relative. If you went to Qatar expecting a nightlife comparable to the US or Europe, then you haven't done your homework. Dubai is also only an hour away by plane by the way. If you went to Qatar expecting to make money, spend time with friends, and enjoy a relaxing lifestyle, then you'll have fun.

Qatar doesn't need a tourist industry, but would like to offer things to the public that are not offered elsewhere. They would also like to draw people to Qatar, so that they can also see what the country has to offer. I don't see people coming back from Qatar saying: "OMG, that place was so much fun!" but rather "I really had an enjoyable and relaxing time in Qatar, and their museums and expos were amazing."

I hope I made some sense.

[QatPhils]

In the Explorer book, it said Qatar doesn't really want to attract a mass of tourists.

[davy_boy]

I think that Qatar is sniffing down the right track with regard to trying to keep a firm grip on it's cultural heritage, this is a great trait. However, as the country rushes to impliment a quality infrastruture to attempt to play a little of the catch up game with other leaders in the gulf, I just hope they don't take their eye off the two factors which could make or break the reputation of the nation with regard to trying to lure in tourists. These two things are :

1. Efficency - Something that is woefully lacking in most areas that I have had any interaction with.

2. Customer Service - Again, poor in most business' apart from the top hotels, of which there are only a handful - currently!

Regardless of how much cash you throw at a problem to solve it, without the basics in place, it's gonna struggle to be resolved to a high standard.

As I said , I think Qatar has the right idea and there seem to be some forward thinking and open minded people near the top of the ladder, so lets just wait and see whether the pearl of the gulf can shine.

These grand ideas do take a long time to put in place, cultivate and then mature into a quality, sellable and sustainable product.

[suzan]

Nice thinking davy boy.
Wise too!

[davy_boy]

Thank you.

[omarmakki]

Good news...

Tourism sector to see 9.1pc growth

doha • According to World Travel & Tourism Council 2007 predictions, Qatar's tourism growth is forecast to be around 9.1 per cent this year with the sector expected to generate revenues worth $9.5bn of economic activity.

To highlight its tourism potential, nine companies from Qatar have confirmed their presence at the 14th edition of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which will be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) from May 1 to 4.

Qatar Airways, Qatar National Hotels, Al Shamel Holidays Qatar, Destinations of the World, Doha Marriott Hotel, Mercure Grand Hotel Doha, The Ritz-Carlton Doha and Sixt Qatar will be taking part in ATM 2007.

A number of hotels rooms have been added to Qatar's hospitality inventory, which will help the country host more visitors. Qatar received some 850,000 visitors in 2006 and expects to attract nearly 1.4 million visitors annually by 2010.

Qatar is also seen by show organisers Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) as a high-potential market for visitors. "Visitor registrations for ATM 2007 are up on last year and of these more than 320 buyers have expressed a specific interest in Qatar's tourism product. We are confident this will increase in the run-up to the show," said Mark Walsh, Group Exhibition Director - Overseas Events, RTE, at a press conference yesterday. RTE is also confident of attracting more tourism professionals from Qatar to the event.

"One of the key changes we have made to this year's event, after conducting many exhibitor feedback sessions, is creating a dedicated tourism development pavilion, which will feature all the spectacular projects being built across the region," Walsh said.

Meanwhile, the highly successful seminar programme will have 12 informative sessions that will tackle important industry topics and feature international speakers. "Top representatives from leading travel and tourism organisations such as PATA, Costa Cruises, Virgin Galactic, Easy Hotels, Eurosport, and publishers Motivate Publishing and NPI Media, as well as international consultancies FutureBrand and Whisper will be hosting these seminars," said Lucie Dawkins, Marketing Manager, ATM.

This year Trident Communications Dubai has been appointed the official Arabian Travel Market show daily publisher and will produce the publication on the first three days of the event on behalf of RTE. ATM partners include Emirates – the official airline for the event, Hyatt Hotels of Dubai which will provide accommodation for hosted media and buyers and American Express — the official payment card, which will have an exclusive Amex lounge at the show.

[davy_boy]

I'd like to add to my previous post - I said two factors, there are indeed three. Something dawned on me a couple of days back, when trying to find out about the international friendly between Qatar and Iran, and also the incredibly bad advert for the start of the heritage festival that failed to tell people where and at what time the opening ceremony was beginning!

3 - Advertising and Marketing. Something so woefully under-estimated and under-used in Qatar. If you were a reasonably proficent and organised company in this field, then there should be no reason why you wouldn't be the number 1 in the country. I say this secure in the knowledge that currently it is not being done, to even a nursery school level by the majority of companies in the country.

What company wants to keep it's potential clients ( read that as revenue ) ill-informed, guessing and totally in the dark about the products and services that they are trying to sell?

Where are the monthly magazines we are supposed to be getting? That died a death. The Qatar Happening guide is only available fleetingly, in random places, and never the same place twice. Word of mouth is the only way to find things out, generally this is okay for a village, but not for a place that is touting itself as a gateway from West to East and vice versa!

Are the qatari's frightened to part with cash in order to advertise their products, services or events?

Speculate to accumulate people!

[omarmakki]

Davy_boy... I think we all 100% agree with you. The lack of advertising in Qatar is just crazy!