Home Tradeline Events ‘Huge’ response seen for Qatar Travel Mart Exhibition in November

‘Huge’ response seen for Qatar Travel Mart Exhibition in November

0

A huge response has been seen from both local and international travel and tourism sector for the Qatar Travel Mart Exhibition in November this year, the organisers said on Monday.

The Qatar Travel Mart Exhibition will be held from November 16 to 18 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.

The event will feature 90 exhibiting local and international companies, while also covering seven sectors such as luxury, business, sports, medical, leisure, culture and halal tourism, NeXTfairs for Exhibitions & Conferences said.

Rawad Sleem, General Manager, NeXTFairs for Exhibitions & Conferences said the event represented a platform that led the journey of tourism and travel sector’s recovery from the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, especially that the World Cup 2022 countdown drew closer, giving a strong boost for the tourism and hotel sector.

Sleem pointed out the tourism industry in Qatar is a lucrative sector for developers and companies and provides opportunities for growth. He also stressed the importance of the business events industry in supporting the economy to recover, as NeXTFairs organises a series of virtual and traditional conferences and exhibitions to enhance the growth of the national economy.

The list of the local participants include Retaj Hotels & Hospitality, Marsa Malaz Kempinski, St Regis, National Cruise, Gulf Adventures & First Travel & Tourism, while the international pavilions include African Tourism Board (ATB) and Ente Nazionale Italiano Del Turismo (ENIT). Moreover, the exhibition has attracted high-profile exhibitors in destinations, airlines, hotels and resorts, tour operators, DMCs, cruise lines, transportation and travel technology companies.

Sleem stressed that tourism is a priority sector fundamental to economic diversification, which has been set as a key objective in the Qatar National Vision 2030. The sector has witnessed great development in terms of regulations and legislation that has promoted Qatar’s openness in tourism giving the local market the opportunity to attract the most prominent hotel brands in the world.    
Furthermore, Qatar tops the list of investment destinations in terms of returns on tourism and hotel investments in the Middle East.

Qatar is the most active market in terms of the number of hotel projects under development despite the repercussions of the pandemic, as the number of ongoing projects is 107.
The 107 projects include 70 hotels with 14,499 rooms, distributed over 33 five-star, 26 four-star, and 11 three-star hotels, while the total number of hotel apartments under development is 21 with 4,363 rooms that include 15 regular hotel apartments, six luxury hotel apartments and 16 non-classified apartments.  

Qatar targets about 5.6mn tourists annually by 2023, while it is estimated that investment in the tourism sector will go up to $4bn by 2028, with the share of the tourism sector in GDP to reach $36.57bn. Not to mention that Qatar provides an encouraging investment environment in the tourism and hotel sector as well as a package of incentives that include advanced infrastructure, a high rate of tourism spending as a result of the growth of the per capita share of GDP, as well as allocating lands for tourism activities under long-term contracts.

Additionally, income tax exemption for a period of up to 10 years in some sectors, granting import license for the necessary materials for investment projects, the exemption from customs taxes imposed on machinery required for investment projects, and the possibility of transferring investment revenues without any obstacles and in any currency.