May 5 – Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup has been boosted after $20 billion (£13 billion) was set aside for tourism investment.
Ahmed Abdullah Al-Nuaimi, chairman of state-run Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), said 40 new hotels with around 7,000 rooms would open in the coming year, mainly in the luxury segment as the Gulf state aims to diversify its economy away from energy.
The economy of Qatar, the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas, is projected to grow 16 per cent in 2010, with the state expecting a budget surplus of 9.7 billion riyals (£1.77 billion/$2.67 billion).
It has been pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure, real estate and education projects.
“Tourism was never looked at as a sector or industry that would be good for the country but now things have changed,” said Al-Nuaimi.
“We are talking about $20 billion of investment in five years, including infrastructure, hotels, airports, and ports, that support tourism.”
In the past three years, hotel rooms have jumped to around 8,500 from 2,700, and are to reach 15,000 by early 2011, said Al-Nuaimi.
Room numbers are projected to grow to 30,000 by the end of 2013, including hotels and furnished apartments.
Lack of hotel rooms had been identified as one of the main drawbacks to Qatar hosting the World Cup.
The QTA’s strategy focuses on business, cultural, sports, and educational tourism.
“We are not looking at mass tourism, Al-Nuuaimi said.
“We are targeting the high-end and business people.
“We are targeting an increase of 15-20 per cent in visitors yearly.”
Qatar is building a new Doha international airport, valued at $14.5 billion (£9.6 billion), scheduled to open at the end of 2012 with a capacity for 25 million passengers, expandable to 48 million upon completion of the last phase in 2015.
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