Attendees of the event relax between sessions. Attendees of the event relax between sessions.

A range of topics were discussed at the inaugural Hotelier Middle East Qatar GM Debate, but it was the legacy of the World Cup 2022 that dominated discussion and divided opinions.

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) dismissed any doubts over the legacy of its FIFA World Cup in 2022 at the inaugural Hotelier Middle East Qatar GM Debate.

During the event at Grand Hyatt Doha on April 19, head of marketing for QTA Cristina Mules said in the keynote speech that Qatar could “look forward to a dynamic future for our nation and our people”.

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“We will focus on five key areas, MICE, culture, sport, education and leisure and our goal is to increase tourism by 20% in the next five years,” she said.

Mules stated that the QTA also had a further aim of getting tourism to contribute to Qatar’s overall GDP in the future.

“We are very proud of our vision and contribution towards a long-term, sustainable development and promoting the country’s rich culture and heritage,” she added.

Viability director Guy Wilkinson’s presentation on the World Cup in 2022 outlined the enormous task ahead for Qatar, but he said it was “already well on its way to achieving its targets”.

Using Dubai’s hotel growth statistics as a comparative, he asserted that Qatar’s plans were certainly “achievable” despite being “ambitious”.

“It’s a very ambitious building programme as we all know; implications are we will see some problems that were apparent during the previous construction boom, before the global recession started,” he said.

“As I understand it there were shortages of manpower, shortages of cement and other building materials, so these things need to be planned for.”
Wilkinson also added it would be interesting to see how the rooms would materialise outside of the hotel component, between two thirds and three quarters of the 90,000-room target.

“Will those compounds be residential? How will they make those rooms available during that one event — what will happen before, what will happen after?” he asked.