SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT MONDAY 31 DECEMBER 2018

Travel & Tourism Qatar cements position as cruisetourist destination

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Qatar Airways touches down for the first time

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RAYNALD C RIVERA

THE PENINSULA

The ongoing annual Shop Qatar festival, which returns for the third year with longer duration and wider offerings, helps bolster the country’s retail

and hospitality sectors and promote Qatar as a shopping destination, say participants.

Organised by the National Tourism Council (NTC), this edition of the festival has witnessed the participation of 14 retail partners and 55 hotels across the country offering big discounts and attractive promotions in addition to over QR3m in cash and cars prizes.

“It opens the country to newer markets in the region; more and more customers are shopping due to the extension of sales and promotions. Qatar is becoming the new destination for the retail sector,” Fahim Matabdin, Mar-keting Manager at Al Mana Malls, the company which operates Mirqab Mall, told The Peninsula.

Marking its inaugural participation, majority of brands in Mirqab Mall are taking part in the festival which Mat-abdin expects to drive further brand awareness for Mirqab Mall as a world class community mall in the heart of Doha. “We have had a double digit growth on footfall versus previous week and are continuing to see the growth on a daily basis,” he noted, adding the inau-gural National Day Trade Festival which offered up to 90 percent discount was a great way to start Shop Qatar.

Matabdin finds the festival’s newest feature – the Design District, in which Mirqab Mall is also participating, a unique concept with eye catching look and feel and a great opportunity to showcase the mall further. He hails the

festival as a fantastic initiative by the NTC whereby most of the malls in Qatar are collaborating with each other.

Muthukrishnan R, Mall Manager at Al Khor Mall, was of the same view with regard to the many advantages of NTC organizing the annual shopping festival. “It’s an excellent initiative from NTC; they are making a difference in the country’s economy and helping us to promote doing business. I lived in four different GCC countries in the past; this is the only country I’ve seen the Tourism Council taking this much initiative and efforts to promote their country,” said Muthukrishnan, hoping that the duration of Shop Qatar be made longer.

Around 80 brands in Al Khor Mall have joined in this edition of Shop Qatar which marks the third consecutive year the mall has taken part in Qatar’s only nationwide shopping festival.

With the amazing offers, he expects more customer footfalls and boost in retailers’ sales as customers spend more during this period which also contributes to the country’s economy. Since the launch of the ongoing festival, there had been an increase in sales as well as foot-falls due to this campaign, said Muth-ukrishnan, adding, “Every year Al Khor Mall is the only mall which has issued a lot of raffle coupons to customers.”

The first raffle draw was held last Thursday at Tawar Mall in which a total of QR200,000 in cash and two Jaguar cars were given away to nine lucky cus-tomers. Three more weekly draws will be held with the final draw at the closing ceremony on January 20 at Doha Fes-tival City.

“We are honoured to be chosen to host the Shop Qatar closing ceremony for the third year in a row. We can’t wait

to see the amazing turnout for the sales offered by our retailers. We are happy to welcome everyone to come and enjoy the fun festivities we have planned for them,” said Robert Hall, General Manager of Doha Festival City.

This year’s Shop Qatar has seen record participation of 55 hotels whose unbeatable offers include discounted room nights, promotions at F&B outlets and health club services as well as free airport transfers. Sherif Sabry, Area General Manager of The Torch Doha, one of the participating hotels, agrees the festival helps in positioning Qatar as a shopping destination and promote the country’s tourism sector in general.

Citing Qatar’s strategic location con-necting East to West through a well-respected airline Qatar Airways which currently flies to more than 150 desti-nations as well as having Doha

International Airport with the huge capacity and unique facilities for pas-sengers, Sabry said the festival is an opportunity for Qatar to seek tourists and shoppers by marketing itself as an end destination for tourists who are looking for quality vacation, sightseeing and shopping from the most luxurious brands which are found in Qatar market.

With Qatar having some of the largest malls among countries in the Middle East and most of the well-known international hotel chains with affordable rates, the festival is poten-tially a chance for increasing the number of travelers and become a shopping des-tination for worldwide travellers, he added. He said: “Shop Qatar is indeed a great activity especially at this time of the year, during the festive season and school holidays which encourages fam-ilies - locals and expats - in addition to visitors to shop more and avail all the promotion activities creating a healthy travel market.”

In line with the festival, The Torch Doha offers special room rates with added discounts on spa treatment and weekly brunch prices.

Turn to page 2

Shop Qatar boosts retail and hospitality sectorsOrganised by the National Tourism Council (NTC), the third edition of Shop Qatar festival has witnessed the participation of 14 retail partners and 55 hotels across the country offering big discounts and attractive promotions in addition to over QR3m in cash and cars prizes.

PICS: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

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From page 1

Since The Torch Doha is con-nected to Villaggio mall with air-conditioned walkway, it has wit-nessed a year-on-year signif-icant increase in bookers from emerging markets such as India and China, said Sabry.

Martin Kendall, General Manager of City Centre Rotana Doha, said he believes “this third edition of Shop Qatar festival will attract more visitors from abroad, and will offer more opportunities for the retail and hospitality sector, and will be transforming Qatar to a leading destination for shopping tourism with all the elements that qualify for it, including top quality luxury accommodation, cultural attractions, family entertainment, festivals and events, as well as

great shopping, dining and other leisure activities.”

He praised Shop Qatar as one of the most popular festivals in the world with the quality of its entertainment programs, which attract a large number of visitors. “The third edition of Shop Qatar festival, features a series of nationwide promotional offers, discounts, and entertainment and public celebrations, exciting events and festivities, encour-aging residents and visitors to enjoy the authenticity of the experiences,” said Kendall.

City Centre Rotana Doha offers 50 percent discount at Bod-ylines for the membership types as well as on the pool pass at Bod-ylines and on Friday Brunch at Olive Oil and Zeituna restaurants during the festival. “We believe

Shop Qatar festival will be a good platform to reach more people. The hotel will benefit greatly from this event,” he said.

Hailing Shop Qatar carrying the collaborative spirit between NTC and public and private partners, Kendall said the fes-tival is one of the many projects which support the hotel’s efforts to diversify source markets and enrich its annual calendar of events.

“Shop Qatar 2019 is designed to appeal to an international audience, leveraging the coun-try’s new status as the most open country in the region,” he added.

Mustapha Henini, General Manager of Fraser Suites Doha, said Shop Qatar is a great start to the season’s festivities.

“It’s the third successful

edition which is bigger, better and grander than ever before. It is a fabulous opportunity for both residents in Qatar and visitors alike to enjoy and indulge,” he said. Henini said he expects Shop Qatar to boost trade activities in the country, encourage the residents to explore and to seek for enter-tainment and activities to engage with the whole family and to offer an opportunity to expe-rience world class hospitality.

For the festival, Fraser Suites Doha is offering special deals to experience its room stays with airport transfers inclusive, spa treatments and special F&B packages in its restaurants.

On how the festival benefits the hotel sector, he said: “Of course this is a great opportunity for us as hoteliers to showcase and boast about Qatar’s guest experience-driven hospitality. Shop Qatar opens doors for

residents to experience the local tourism sector. Be it a day-cation or a weekend stay-cation, resi-dents of Qatar could opt from a middle class hotel to a luxury resort to unwind.”

Asked on how the festival helps in positioning Qatar as a shopping destination and pro-moting the country’s tourism, Henini said: “Qatar is already a landmark being one of the coun-tries who has free visa for more than 80 nationalities. This would be a great opportunity to those travelers and to travelers who are on a stopover on the way to or from their holiday destination to experience this hospitable nation, world class shopping experience and to get a world class showcase of Qatari culture and traditions.”

Ammar Samad, Hotel Manager of The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa expressed appreci-ation for NTC’s efforts in sup-porting the tourism sector by organizing the third edition of Shop Qatar festival, which, he considers of great importance for the hotels to receive visibility.

“The festival supports our goal to promote our hotel rooms, Heavenly Spa and signature res-taurants such as Sabai Thai and Hunters Room & Grill where guests are welcome to explore our award-winning cuisine and service excellence,” said Samad.

The family package which allows guests to enjoy two rooms featuring the signature Heavenly Bed including breakfast at QR890 as well as discounts on F&B and spa treatments are among the promotions at Westin in line with the festival. Samad also appreciated NTC’s move to expand its reach to international markets, saying, “This will abso-lutely support us to showcase the Westin experience to a new audience around the world.”

“Every year, each edition of

Shop Qatar has attracted new interest among the international community by showcasing the remarkable variety of shopping experiences Qatar offers. We look forward to the future activ-ities NTC will launch which will definitely accelerate the growth of tourism in Qatar and promote the country as a unique tourist destination,” he said.

Chris K. Franzen, General Manager of Grand Hyatt Doha Hotel & Villas finds it great to see the activities and offerings of the Shop Qatar festival expanding during its third addition.

“The Festival provides a mul-titude of events that are great for those looking for new activities for the family, there is really something for everyone. The fes-tival is well organized and well promoted across the city, with many great partners involved in ensuring the festival’s success,” said Franzen. He said he expects this festival to be bigger and better than previous years, while lauding the addition of the ‘Design District’ as well as more live concerts which keep the fes-tival fresh and exciting.

Grand Hyatt Doha’s special Shop Qatar offerings includes discounts on room rates, F&B outlets, beach and pool access rates and spa treatments.

“The festival gives hotels another platform to promote our property which in turn will increase footfall into the hotel. The vision of Shop Qatar festival is to increase the number of tourists and stand out as a family destination and a tourist attraction hub.

“Such festivals provide tourists with an additional reason to visit Qatar as there is plenty to keep them busy once they arrive. More tourists into Doha will always be positive for the hotel sector,” said Franzen.

Shop Qatar boosts retail and hospitality sectors

PICS: SALIM MATRAMKOT & BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

3

Al Enna Project, a pilot tourism d e v e l o p m e n t project spear-h e a d e d b y National Tourism

Council (NTC) to enhance the winter camping experience in Qatar, protect the environment, and ensure public safety, offi-cially launched on November 17 in Sealine area.

Under the patronage of Prime Minister and Interior Min-ister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Al Enna is supported by the Min-istry of Municipality and Envi-ronment, the Ministry of Interior, the Public Works Authority Ashghal, Qatar Olympic Com-mittee, Qatar Motor and Motor-cycle Federation, Batabit, Mawater, Katara Hospitality and QSports.

Omar Al Jaber, NTC repre-sentative and Al Enna Project official spokesperson, said: “We are honoured by H E the Prime Minister’s patronage and H E the Minister of Municipality and Environment’s support of this initiative. While this is a pilot project, our work is ongoing with the various partners, camping ground owners, and businesses to continuously improve the

camping and desert experience. Developing the Sealine and Inland Sea regions while enhancing the desert experience there supports our efforts to deliver tourism products and services that raise Qatar’s profile as an attractive winter tourism destination.”

Visitors to Al Enna can begin their experience at Al Seef – a Sealine beach area which has been developed to accommodate 15,000 people, with sufficient amenities including showers and a giant screen on which main activities are displayed.

The beach area includes 30 food and beverage outlets, beach cabins and chairs which can be rented and a children’s play area. The beach is fully staffed with security personnel, lifeguards, technicians, and other support staff. Al Seef is operated and managed by Sealine Beach Resort, while Qatar Olympic Committee is providing sporting activities including beach football, beach volleyball, and basketball.

Beyond the beach, visitors can rent quad-bikes and ATVs in a 300,000sqm space designed to provide safe and integrated experiences for biking fans. The area features eight biking tracks

catering to riders of different abilities and requirements: one for ladies, four for beginners and children, one for intermediate-level bikers, one for advanced-level bikers, and one for profes-sionals. The latter will host con-tests and challenges organised by Batabit (Qatar Centre for Motorcycles).

The Batabit zone has 32 res-taurants and cafes, with full

water and electricity amenities, air conditioning, and flooring. It also offers a variety of services in the form of 28 motorcycle rental shops, complete with parking spaces, a fuel supply zone, storage areas, power supply, and fire extinguishers. Adjacent to this area is the Mawater zone, which is built to host spectator drag races, ensuring the safety of both con-

testants and viewers.NTC had previously signed a

memorandum of understanding with the General Directorate of Traffic, providing a framework for the regulation of quad-bike renting to make the practice more safe. Under the regulations, the use of quad bikes outside the desig-nated tracks is not permitted.

The final zone is Al Mashab (the bonfire) where all cultural

and heritage activities are to be organised during weekends throughout the camping season. The zone contains 10 tents that the public can rent to enjoy an authentic desert experience, complete with traditional cuisine, a view of the bonfire and family entertainment inspired by Qatari heritage.

Director of Festivals and Tourism Events at NTC, Mashal Shahbik, commented: “We have drawn from the extensive expe-rience gained from the various festivals and nation-wide events organized over the past decade to develop new experiences that cater to all tastes and celebrate Qatar’s history as well as the special nature of the Sealine and Inland Sea areas.”

To ensure campers are well-serviced, a “Souq” area has been set up with 25 stores offering various camping supplies, gro-ceries, technical services, mobile phones, and motorcycle spare parts. Visitors to Sealine can now travel easily among the various parts of the project thanks to a 1.5km road that Ashghal has paved from Al Shalihat Round-about to the end of the family beach. The road has two lanes in both directions and includes parking spaces and service areas.

Al Enna Project to boost tourism sector

The Cultural Village Foun-dation — Katara officially recently unveiled Qatar’s first-of-its-kind high-tech planetarium coinciding with

the celebrations of Qatar National Day.Named Al Thuraya Planetarium,

the first astronomical dome in Qatar was opened by Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti in the presence of diplomats and dignitaries. Al Sulaiti said that the newly launched planetarium caters to all age groups as it has some inter-active features that give visitors knowledge about astronomy in an interesting way.

He underscored Katara’s keenness in educating the new generation in dif-ferent fields of culture and science to broaden their knowledge and under-standing. The planetarium takes vis-itors in a journey around the galaxies of the universe in a simplified manner that fits children and adults in two lan-guages, English and Arabic.

Occupying 2,240sqm area, the planetarium is expected to become one of the main attractions at Katara. It offers a rare experience to visitors, blending education and entertainment, especially students, families and astronomy enthusiasts.

The main component of the plan-etarium is a full-dome digital system with a seating capacity of 200 people, four seats for the disabled and another four for the elderly. It features a 22-meter screen, equipped with state-of-the-art digital projectors showing 2D and 3D tutorial shows.

A vast terrace overlooking the sea serves as a platform for events and activities. The operating system of the Planetarium (Digistar) has very unique features such as an amazing tool to process 3D illustrations projected to the main screen of the dome.

The system also features live streaming feature domecasting, which enables other similar theatres and domes in the world that are equipped with the same Digistar system to broadcast live presentations between each other, which enables other gal-leries to meet and watch live perform-ances and experiment simultaneously, and live presentations to be broadcast in the Al Thuraya.

In addition, the Planetarium fea-tures information on Earth Science which contains more than 200 unique data sets in five categories: astronomy, atmosphere, geology and the oceans. This includes more than 25 terrestrial weather data, solar data sets and a number of awareness presentations

by professional trainers.There is also a museum within the

Planetarium displaying astronomical figures and history such as the story of the split of the moon in the era of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), and a number of models of the planets of the solar system in various sizes, in addition to models of space shuttles and astraunaut suits.

The Planetarium is named after the Thuraya (Seven Sisters) which is a cluster of seven bright stars (the Pleiades M45). It is considered one of the most beautiful sights in the sky which Arabs call the Thuraya (Wealth in Arabic) which was of great signifi-cance to them in the ancient times.

On the eve of the opening, Katara signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Qatar Satelite Company Es’hailsat to exchange expertise and operate the new Planetarium. The cooperation will include conducting lectures and workshops for school and university students. Katara also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Oman Oil Development Company in November last year to train Qatari youth in the field of planetariums and managing astronomy domes.

Qatar’s first planetarium opensOccupying 2,240sqm area, the planetarium is expected to become one of the main attractions at Katara. It offers a rare experience to visitors, blending education and entertainment, especial-ly students, families and astronomy enthusiasts.

Just three days after the whole country burst into a massive

Qatar National Day celebration, visitors to Qatar’s most popular Souq con-tinues to immerse into a festive mood with the kick off of Souq Waqif Spring Festival.

Like its previous editions, this year’s festival blends games and rides with con-certs and shows making it a much-antic-ipated event in Souq Waqif’s calendar for its high entertainment value. Dressed in their national costumes, groups of cul-tural performers from several countries in the region such as Oman and Jordan left visitors in high spirits as they danced and sang to the accompaniment of native musical instruments.

Visitors captured in their mobile phones the unique and lively perform-ances of the bands as they roamed around the main alleys of the Souq. Several stages have been erected in Al Ahmed Square and the Western parking area where shows were played. More than 20 local and regional singers are set to perform in the coming days at the concerts being presented by Sout Al Rayyan.

Throughout the 15-day festival, a circus show is expected to wow the vis-itors with acrobats, jugglers, magicians and other artistes coming from other countries showcasing their skills in their performances, in addition to entertaining animal acts. Tickets to the shows which are staged twice in the evening are QR30, QR50 and QR70.

Children as well as adults can play carnival skill games to win memorabilia and gifts at the 15 colourful stalls lined up at Al Ahmed Square, in addition to several rides for children. Both games and rides are priced QR10.

The soon-to-open KidZania, which is located in Aspire Zone, has also a presence in the festival providing children a taste of what to expect when it opens in the first quarter of next year. Real-life fun activities are being provided free of charge to children at the KidZania tent throughout the festival.

As in recent years, a Spring Festival is also being organised at Souq Waqif Al Wakrah, another must-visit tourist des-tination in the country. Meanwhile, food carts at the festival venue witnessed many customers who chose from a wide array of scrumptious snacks such as Turkish ice cream, burgers, crepes, waffles and corn as well as beverages including juice, karak and coffee, among others. The long line of restaurants at the Souq also saw brisk business yesterday with huge crowds who preferred to dine at the outside sitting areas to enjoy the cool weather.

Souq Waqif Spring Festival attracts many visitors

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Qatar Museums, early in November, announced that the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ), housed within a spectacular new

building designed by architect Jean Nouvel, will open to the public on March 28, 2019, under the patronage of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The immersive and experiential NMoQ tells the story of Qatar and its people from more than 700 million years ago through to today, giving voice to Qatar’s rich heritage and culture and expressing a vibrant community’s aspi-rations for the future. The new museum embraces, as its centerpiece, the restored historic Palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani (1880-1957), son of the founder of modern Qatar: A building that in former times was both the home of the Royal Family and the seat of government, and was subsequently the site of the original National Museum.

Jean Nouvel’s new 40,000-square-meter (430,000-square-foot) building incorporates the Palace while seam-lessly integrating innovative artworks commissioned from Qatari and inter-national artists, rare and precious objects, documentary materials, and interactive learning opportunities.

H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad

bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, said: “Qatar is an ancient land, rich in the traditions of the desert and the sea, but also a land that hosted many past civilizations. While it has modernized its infrastructure, it has still remained true to the core cultural values of our times. We look forward to sharing new museum experiences with our proud and diverse communities, as well as welcoming international guests in the spring of next year.”

Jean Nouvel’s dynamic architectural design echoes the geography of Qatar while evoking the history and culture of the nation. According to Nouvel, “Qatar has a deep rapport with the desert, with its flora and fauna, its nomadic people, its long traditions. To fuse these contrasting stories, I needed a symbolic element. Eventually, I remembered the phenomenon of the desert rose: crystalline forms, like min-iature architectural events, that emerge from the ground through the work of wind, salt water, and sand. The museum that developed from this idea, with its great curved discs, intersections, and cantilevered angles, is a totality, at once architectural, spatial, and sensory.”

Sheikha Amna bint Abdulaziz bin Jassim Al Thani, Director of the NMoQ, said: “The National Museum will give visitors an unprecedented museum experience, with people at the heart of

its vision and development — this is a museum that narrates the story of the people of Qatar and shares this story in an innovative, holistic, and immersive way. Central to the vision of the Museum is intergenerational learning, for school children, for adults, for all, through our multi-layered thematic exhibits, inter-activity and programming.

“At the core of the museum’s per-manent exhibits and accessible to the public is a digital archive of thousands of images, videos, and documents from Qatar and abroad. And all these ele-ments will be made accessible to as

many people as possible.”The National Museum of Qatar is

organized in three “chapters” — Begin-nings, Life in Qatar, and Building the Nation — presented in 11 galleries. The visitor’s chronological journey, which extends through more than 2.7km (1.7 miles) of experiences, starts in the geo-logical period long before the peninsula was inhabited by humans and continues to the present day. The route passes through a succession of impressive, remarkably shaped volumes until it reaches its culmination in the very heart of Qatari national identity, the

thoroughly restored Palace of Sheikh Abdullah.

Oral histories, archival images, art-works, music, storytelling, and evoc-ative aromas create an immersive sensory experience that contextualizes the impressive array of archaeological and heritage objects, which includes the renowned Pearl Carpet of Baroda — commissioned in 1865, embroidered with more than 1.5 million of the highest quality Gulf pearls, and adorned with emeralds, diamonds, and sapphires — as well as manuscripts, documents, pho-tographs, jewelry, and costumes.

Artworks commissioned for NMoQ include a piece by Qatari artist Ali Hassan in the ground-floor public entrance, a work by Qatari artist and arts patron Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani at the entrance to the galleries, and a sculpture by Iraqi artist Ahmed Al Bahrani in the outdoor space known as the Howsh, or caravanserai. Commissioned artworks in the NMoQ park include a monumental installation by the French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel comprising 114 indi-vidual fountains set within the lagoon, with their streams designed to evoke the fluid forms of Arabic calligraphy, and a sculpture by the Syrian artist Simone Fattal, Gates of the Sea, which evokes the petroglyphs found in Qatar at Al Jassasiya.

National Museum of Qatar to provide immersive experience

Young people from across Qatar have completed the world’s longest bridge built from LEGO bricks at Qatar National Library

(QNL). The 33 metre-long suspension bridge is built from more than 260,000 LEGO bricks.

The bridge at the QNL will be displayed at the Library until January 6. 2019.

The bridge is part of the 2018 Qatar-British Festival and it signifies cultural ties between the two countries. The last brick on the structure was placed by Dr Sohair Wastawy, Executive Director of QNL during a ceremony held early this month.

Sam Ayton, Director of the British Council, Qatar, Dr Waseem Kotoub, Director of the Qatar British Festival and representatives from the British Embassy in Qatar were also present.

The bridge is the longest such structure in the world and was designed by Dr Robin Sham, a fellow at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Entitled ‘Qatar’s Little Builders: Bridging Communities,’ the exhibit is intended to ignite a passion for engineering, mathematics and architecture in the Library’s young visitors.

“During the Qatar British Festival we

are connecting people of both countries. Building this record-setting structure also highlights importance of engineering, mathematics and architecture. It was encouraging to see hundreds of children participating in building the bridge,” Dr Kotoub told The Peninsula.

“We did run a bridge building compe-tition, in which children built their little bridges. The longest three meter bridge was built by a eight year old child,” he added.

The bridge was half-built when it opened on November 28. Over the following days, visitors to the QNL assembled the bridge, with engineers providing the necessary instruction. Experts from the Bright Bricks and ICE also held workshops for students visiting the QNL on school tours.

It is a replica of the bridge that was created in 2016 by Bright Bricks, a UK-based builder of large-scale LEGO struc-tures, and LEGO Certified Professionals, along with AECOM engineers and volun-teers. It highlights how bridges have trans-formed lives and brought communities together. The fantastic structure weighs three quarters of a tonne and first displayed in London. It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest LEGO brick bridge.

World’s longest LEGO bridge unveiled at QNL

Qatar’s leadership has iden-tified tourism as one of five priority sectors for achieving economic diver-sification in Qatar. This year has witnessed a number of

milestone developmentsmaking 2018 a turning point for tourism in Qatar. Here are the year’s highlights:

NATIONAL TOURISM COUNCIL IS

ESTABLISHED BY AMIRI DECREE

Among the most important devel-opments is the Amiri decree to establish Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) under the chairmanship of H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, effectively fast-tracking the development initiatives outlined in the National Tourism Sector Strategy (QNTSS).

EXPANSION IN

INTERNATIONALMARKETS

QNTC has made significant efforts in diversifying visitor source markets and promoting Qatar as an attractive tourism destination. In 2018, six repre-sentative offices were opened in three of the world’s largest visitor source markets — China, India and Russia. According to Euromonitor 2018, Doha was ranked among the Top 100 City Destinations worldwide.

QATAR. QURATED FOR YOU.

A GLOBAL PROMOTION CAMPAIGN

In November 2018, QNTC launched Qatar’s first global destination campaign. Under the tagline ‘Qatar. Qurated for you.’, the campaign brings to life Qatar’s focus on tailored visitor experiences that celebrate its heritage, and is being rolled out in eight languages across 15 existing and targeted priority marketstargeting 250 million travellersaround the world.

RECOGNITION AS REGION LEADERS

Thanks to the numerous steps Qatar has taken to ease visitor access, the UNWTO ranked Qatar as the most open country in the Middle East and the 8th most open country in the world.

And, according to the latest Guest Experience in the Middle East Report, released by hospitality and travel data providers Olery, Qatar’s hospitality sector has further improved its guest experience ranking from first place among the GCC to first place in the Middle East.

DESTINATION WEDDINGS

COME TO DOHA

Thanks to Doha’s hassle-free loca-tions with magnificent ballrooms and manicured vistas that regularly cater to clients who have an appetite for modern luxury, grand entertainment and mouth-watering delights, Qatar is emerging as an attractive wedding destination for couples looking to tie the knot abroad.

The growth in this area has been made possible thanks to the close col-laboration between the hospitality sector, the Ministry of the Interior, Qatar Airways and the General Authority of Customs. Six Indian weddings have so far been confirmed for 2019.

ENHANCING VISITOR EXPERIENCE

2018 witnessed the launch of the Al Enna project which covers an area of 6 million m2 in Sealine and Khor Al Adaid and aims to enhance the visitor’s coastal and desert experience — a key objective of the Next Chapter of QNTSS 2018-2023. The Al Enna project is an initial phase of a comprehensive plan to develop the region over a five-year period. The plan entails the development of roads, beaches, camp infrastructure and the region in general.

CRUISE TOURISM SETS SAIL

This year, Doha Port welcomed two mega ships on the same day, marking a major step in the development of the tourism sub-sector. 2018 also witnessed the signing of MoUs with two of Europe’s leading cruise operators which will help in further developing Qatar’s cruise tourism.

In the last cruise season which ended in April of this year, Qatar wel-comed 22 cruise ships carrying more than 65,000 cruise passengers — a 39% increase from the 2016/17 season. The ongoing 2018/19 cruise season which kicked off in October and continues until April 2019, is expected to see nearly double the number of cruise ships that arrived in the previous season and bring 140,000 visitors to Qatar’s shores.

A RICH CALENDAR OF EVENTS

This year, Qatar is hosting 131 exhi-bitions and conferences in various fields. In 2018, Qatar won the rights to host six major business events to be held between 2019 and 2022 with a pro-spective number of participants reaching up to 2,400.

Local exhibitions continued to attract visitors and participants from Qatar and the world. In this regard, more than 1,000 brands took part in the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, the Arabian Fashion Exhibition and the Qatar Motor Show, attracting more than 65,000 visitors in 2018

QNTC continued to organise new editions of nation-wide festivals such as QIFF, QSF and Shop Qatar which serve to energise tourism-related sectors, such as retail, F&B and hospi-tality as well as provide platforms for local entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services.

A GLOBAL DESTINATION FOR

SPORTS

QNTC has been working to leverage the country’s state-of-the-art sports facilities to bolster Qatar’s position as a world-class sports destination. In 2019, Doha will host the World Corporate Games, which will be held for the first time in the Middle East and is expected to attract about 8,000 international and local participants.

QNTC is also continuing its support for local sports events such as the Esrar Race, Al AdaidDesert Challenge, Doha Triathlon and the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP).

DEVELOPING THE TOURISM SECTOR

In line with the Next Chapter’s focus on developing and boosting the sector’s professional skills and competitiveness, QNTC partnered with the Union of Inter-national Fairs (UFI) to deliver an event

management training programme which resulted in the certification of 20 pro-fessionals in the business events sector.

In addition, QNTC launched its tour guidetraining programmewhich resulted in 137 tour guides who speak 20 dif-ferent languages being officially licensed. A special training and licensing programme including modules on safe four-wheel drive training and emer-gency response was launched with more than 200 4x4 safari tour guides partic-ipating and being certified.

ABOUT QNTC

Qatar National Tourism Council’s

mission is to firmly establish Qatar on the global map as a place where cultural authenticity meets modernity, and where people of the world come together to experience unique offerings in culture, sports, business and family entertainment.

The QNTC’s work is guided by the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy (QNTSS), which seeks to diversify the country’s tourism offering and increase the sector’s contribution to Qatar’s economy by 2030. In 2017, the Next Chapter of QNTSS was launched, charting the next five years (2018-2023) of the tourism sector’s growth.

In 2018, QNTC launched the a global

destination campaign under the tagline ‘Qatar, Qurated for you.’ Curating requires professional or expert knowledge to select, organise and present unique experiences. As such, the Qurated campaign plays on the word’s definition and the destination brand’s iconic Q to underscore the country’s focus on delivering tailored visitor-centric experiences.

Since launching QNTSS, Qatar has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The economic impact of the tourism sector in Qatar is becoming increasingly visible with 2016 estimates showing a total (direct and indirect) contribution to Qatar’s GDP of 6.7%.

2018: A turning point for tourism in Qatar

National Tourism Council (NTC) has partnered with Cox and Kings India to promote

Qatar as the group’s new pre-ferred destination, boosting the destination’s profile to attract luxury, business and independent travellers to visit Qatar.

NTC official Rashed Al Qurese said: “Qatar is an easily accessible destination within a few hours from most Indian cities making it attractive for travelers looking for short city

getaways or a convenient stopover when heading further West. India is a priority market for us and we look forward to welcoming Indian visitors in Qatar to discover our destina-tion’s authentic experiences all while enjoying our famed Arabian hospitality.”

Head of Relationships at Cox and Kings, Karan Anand, said: “Qatar has a lot to offer and NTC has been very proactive in pro-moting the destination. Initiatives such as free entry visas for Indians will encourage more people to travel to Qatar in large

numbers. Direct air connectivity from metropolises and secondary cities to the destination is an added advantage and we will focus on these markets to boost numbers to the destination.

He added: “Qatar has intro-duced many new tourism products and our staff have experienced them first hand to promote the destination in the Indian market.”

The integrated marketing campaign will use online and traditional media tools to target travelers both directly and through travel and tourism

trade.In addition to creating a

special landing page on the Cox and Kings website, proactive marketing and pro-motion activities will be carried out through digital campaigns in targeted cities as well as advertising in national media.

As part of the campaign’s focus on trade and coinciding with the Group’s 260th anni-versary celebrations — 260 travel agents came to Qatar to attend Cox and Kings’ 5-day Travel Agent Training Camp. At

the camp, tourism professionals had an opportunity to expe-rience first-hand the unique experiences Qatar has to offer.

Following this mega fam trip, numerous initiatives will be rolled out over the coming 12 months including a Golf Tour-nament in Doha, a Master Chef travel series, as well as other training and incentives programs.

Established in 1758, Cox and Kings Ltd is headquartered in India and the UK with a global presence across North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. As

part of this campaign, it is offering Indian travelers itiner-aries to tourism hotspots and activities that explore both the traditional and contemporary sides of Qatar.

Every week, there are 176 flights connecting Indian cities to Doha offered by Qatar Airways as well as Indian airlines Indigo, Jet Airways and Air India Express. Since January of this year, Qatar has welcomed more than 335,000 Indian visitors, repre-senting a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Qatar welcomes more than 335,000 Indian visitors since January

7

The cruise tourism sector is witnessing a strong growth with thousands of tourists visiting the country aboard 14 cruise ships which docked at Doha Port,

Qatar’s gateway for cruise tourists, since the start of the season on October 2.

This season, which will continue until May 2019, is set to be the busiest one since the development of the cruise tourism sector in Qatar as more than 140,000 visitors in 43 cruise ships are expected to dock at Doha Port during this season, according to National Tourism Council.

Qatar’s cruise industry is set for further growth in the coming years, with projections showing the arrival of 200,000 passengers by 2020, especially thanks to a port expansion that now allows Doha Port to welcome two mega ships at the same time.

The smooth docking and disem-barking is made possible thanks to close coordination between NTC, Mwani Qatar, Ministry of Interior, Qatar Customs Authority, Mowasalat and Des-tination Management Companies, allowing passengers to leave the port swiftly and begin enjoying curated expe-riences around Doha.

Recently, cruise ship MSC Lirica docked at Doha Port on its third visit during the ongoing 2018-19 cruise season with 1,853 passengers and 734 crew aboard. On December 19, cruise ship AIDAPrima arrived at Doha Port on its second voyage, carrying 3,358 passengers and 955 crew members. On December 12, AIDAPrima called at Doha Port, on its maiden voyage to Qatar, with 3,286 passengers and 956 crew aboard.

The largest of AIDA Cruises’ fleet, the AIDAPrima mega ship measures 300 metres in length and has a capacity of 4,250 passengers and crew. The arrival of AIDAPrima follows on an agreement signed between NTC and AIDA Cruises earlier this year. According to the agreement the mega ship is due to arrive in Qatar eight times this season, bringing about 26,000 passengers toQatar’s shores between December 2018 and April 2019.

AIDA Cruises is among the first cruise lines in the world to offer cruises around the Arabian Gulf. Since 2006 it has been offering week-long winter cruises around the region to its mostly German clientele.

This makes it an ideal partner for NTCwhich places the German-speaking market among its priority

markets as it pursues its goals for 2023. In 2015, NTC opened a representative office in Germany, and has since reg-ularly organised numerous campaigns to raise awareness among travelers and tour operators about Qatar’s unique tourism offeringin German-speaking markets.

Rashed Al Qurese from NTC said: “We are pleased to have one of the most established cruise lines operating in the Arabian Gulf add Qatar to its itinerary. In addition to attracting more mega ships to Qatar, our collaboration with AIDA Cruises is helping expedite the development of the cruise industry in Qatar through joint promotion efforts, and so we are pleased today to welcome a cruise ship and a partner to Qatar’s shores.” The partnership with AIDA Cruises is the second successful collab-oration with a German cruise line, coming after the collaboration with TUI Cruises, which brought its mega ship Mein Schiff 5 eight times to Doha last season. At 40%, Germans formed the majority of cruise passengers disem-barking in Doha in the 2017/18 season.

On December 13, Qatar welcomed cruise ship MSC Splendida on its first trip carrying a total of 3,442 passengers and 1,307 crew members.

On December 5, Qatar welcomed for the second time two mega cruise ships simultaneously. The two ships MSC Lirica and Mein Schiff 4 brought more than 6,000 visitors. The docking of two mega-ships simultaneously will happen five times during the season, proving Doha Port’s ability to accommodate the cruise tourism sector’s rapid growth.

On December 4, Celebrity Constel-lation sailed into Doha Port on its second visit, carrying a total of 1,754 passengers and 957 crew members. The cruise ship ‘Seabourn Ovation’ with 562 tourists and 424 crew onboard called into Doha Port on its maiden call to Qatar on December 3.

Last month, MSC Lirica arrived at Doha Port, marking its maiden call to Qatar with more than 3,500 visitors aboard on November 28. On the same day Doha Port received cruise ship Celebrity Constellation on its first trip to Qatar bringing more than 2,800 vis-itors. And by welcoming two ships, the 2018-’19 cruise season saw first time Doha Port receiving two mega cruise ships simultaneously.

The successful docking of the two mega ships is testament to Mwani Qatar’s enhanced operational effi-ciencies which are part of the Ministry of Transport and Communications

strategic plan as well as the high level of coordination among the NTC, Min-istry of Interior and General Authority of Customs to receive mega cruise ships and ensure smooth disembarkation pro-cedures for their passengers and crew. And, destination management com-panies (DMCs) and Mowasalat provide tours and secure the necessary means of transportation for the large numbers of visitors arriving at the port.

This milestone development comes as part of the NTC’s strategy to enhance Qatar’s cruise tourism sector and firmly establish Qatar’s place in the world’s winter cruise map.

On November 21, Doha Port received the cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 on its second visit during the 2018-19 season, carrying 2471 passengers and 988 crew. The ship’s first visit was on November 8. Mein Schiff 4 is one of the world’s newest cruise ships. It was built in 2014 and began its first trip in June 2015. The ship consists of 15 decks. Passengers on board can enjoy a variety of dining options and restaurants, a 3-level theatre, a basketball court, a kids club, and a pool deck containing one of the longest pools on a cruise ship.

Mwani Qatar’s CEO Capt. Abdulla Al Khanji said: “The success of receiving one of the world’s largest cruise ships in Doha port reflects the confidence that

the port has gained among the world’s cruise ship operators and reflects its ability to promote this growing industry in Qatar in line with the Ministry of Transport and Communications’ stra-tegic plan aimed at developing maritime transport in the state.

Qatar welcomed cruise ship

Seabourn Encore with 559 passengers and 424 crew onboard on November 10. Doha Port received on November 5 cruise ship Azamara Quest on its maiden call to Qatar. On October 2, cruise ship MS Boudicca arrived and it marked the commencement of the 2018-19 cruise season with 491 passengers.

Qatar cements position as cruise tourist destination

8