São Paulo – Qatar is investing US$ 40 billion to US$ 45 billion in the tourism industry up until 2030. The goal is to attract over 7 million visitors to the country each year, which is seven times the current number. The announcement was made by Issa Al Mohannadi, chairman of the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) last Sunday (23rd), during the conference Tourism in Tomorrow’s World, held in Doha. The information was disclosed by newspaper The Peninsula.
Mohannadi believes tourism holds great economic promise as an alternative to fuels. “We must be well-prepared to develop a post-carbon economy. Tourism is an untapped resource. Turning Qatar towards a tourism economy is the first step after oil and gas,” he said according to the newspaper.
According to Mohannadi, the country is committed to investing in sustainable tourism and hospitality in order to meet the target.
The executive noted that the strategy is designed to raise the share of the tourism industry in the GDP from less than 1% to over 3% by 2030, and to increase the number of jobs in the industry from 25,000 in 2012 to 127,000 by the end of the next decade.
“The world is changing. We must open up our hearts and minds. We must invite people to our country so we can learn from them and they can learn from us,” said the QTA chairman.
Taleb Rifai, the World Tourism Organization secretary general, who was in attendance, said the number of travellers worldwide exceeded 1 billion for the first time in 2012, and should reach 1.8 billion by 2030. According to The Peninsula, Rifai said the Middle East made a significant contribution to this increase, having gone from 24 million travellers in 2000 to 52 million in 2013, and an expected 150 million in 2030.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
