Media briefing on the occasion of the opening of the tourist office of Qatar in Russia

On March 29, 2018 in Moscow was held a media briefing on the occasion of the opening of the tourist office of Qatar in Russia. At the briefing with an analysis of the development of the tourism industry of the country discoursed the Ambassador of Qatar to Russia Fahad Bin Mohammed al Attiyah and the Chairman of QTA (Tourism Agency of Qatar) Hassan Al Ibrahim, "In 2016 Qatar was visited by 2.94 million foreign tourists, but in 2017 there was a 23% decrease - up to 2.25 million people - due to the blockade imposed by several Arab states. Although in the first five months of this year the number of tourists grew by 7%. In September 2017 we presented an updated national strategy for the tourism sector. Its goal is 5.6-5.7 million tourists by 2023 and 7.8 million by 2030. Last year 9902 tourists from Russia visited Qatar", - describe the actual situation Hassan Al Ibrahim It should be noted that Qatar demonstrated a phenomenal growth of incoming tourism from the countries of Asia, America, Europe and also Russia after cancelation in August 2017 a visa regime for citizens of 80 countries. The strategy of the national tourism sector, in particular, focuses on improving management, developing of internal tourism product and expanding representation in foreign countries - now Qatar has offices in China, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Singapore and Russia. The activities of the Russian tourist office include the expansion of air transportation. On the question of the special correspondent of the Russian Travel Digest to comment the information concerning interest of Qatar Airways in buying Vnukovo airport’s share (Moscow), as well as extending of advertising campaign of Qatar as a tourist destination in Russia, the Qatar Ambassador to Russia Fahad Bin Mohammed al Attiyah replied that Qatar Airways is interested in investments in the development of Russia's air infrastructure, which will undoubtedly increase Russia's share in the incoming market of Qatar. In order to promote Qatar as a tourist destination, QTA plans to conduct broad advertising campaigns, as well as actively cooperate with the leading tour operators of the Russian out coming market. The representatives of Qatar emphasized the distinctive feature of tourist Qatar – this is a combination of modernity, local culture and authenticity. In the nearest future the country plans to open several new resorts: some of them will be located near the sea and some - in the middle of the desert and specialize only on the appropriate exotic. Qatar has huge protected areas, the places with real wildlife - they will be an important part of this product. In Qatar Russia has entered into the TOP 10 of countries with the fastest growing markets. But these are mostly individual travelers. For the present there are no large companies selling or promoting this direction in Russia. Qatar plans that the main growth will begin in 2019, since 2023 the country expects at least 200 000 people from Russia annually.