Qatar has set a target of attracting at least three million visitors over the 12 months to the end of 2015.
In a statement issued by state news agency QNA, it said it is working towards netting a total of $10.7 billion in tourism spending by 2030.
QNA did not specify how many tourists have visited Qatar so far this year but Rashed Saeed Al Qurese, head of marketing and promotion at Qatar Tourism Authority, told Gulf News last month that the Gulf state has recorded a 10% increase in tourists this year compared to 2014, with more than 1.3 million visitors.
However, Bank Audi Group’s Qatar Economic Report 2015, published in June, cited Qatar Tourism Authority research claiming that the figure was actually 2.82 million.
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Tourism provides more than 61,000 jobs in Qatar and one in every 11 jobs globally, QNA reported.
It added that tourism directly contributed $3.7 billion to the country’s GDP in 2013 and represents 4% of Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon economy.
Qatar Tourism Authority chairman Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi has urged stakeholders and partners to step up activities to boost inward tourism and help the authority to pass the three million target.
Speaking at the second Annual Tourism Industry convention in Doha, he said: “Summer may be a traditionally slow season for most sectors, but for the tourism industry it means the arrival of Eid Al-Fitr Festival, followed by Qatar Summer Festival 2015, and the Eid Al-Adha Festival.
“With the support of these upcoming festivals and events Qatar is on track to pass the three million-visitor mark by the end of 2015.”
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