Visitors to Qatar exceed pre-pandemic levels in October

There were plenty of reasons to visit Qatar in October. Qatar Tourism (QT) data reveals that a suite of events, new launches and impending football fever drove visitor numbers during the month to nearly 180,000 – a six year high.Throughout 2022, visitors have steadily increased month on month, and the latest October figures exceeded pre-pandemic numbers by nearly a third (32% more than October 2017).Qatar continues to offer attractions and family-friendly entertainment for visitors from the region, making visitors from the GCC the leading source of all international visitors (over a third at 33%) to the country in October. At the same time, October saw a 10% increase from the prior month on the number of non-GCC tourists, at 66% of the total, an increase of 10%. Non-GCC arrivals hailed mainly from India (13%), the UK (4%) and the USA (3%).This month, 70% of visitors chose to arrive by air, followed by land (29%), and sea (1%).A packed schedule of launches and openings greeted Qatar’s visitors in October, including the reopening of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), luxury malls (Printemps), and a spate of world-leading luxury hotels.Towards the end of the month, the Darb Lusail Festival officially inaugurated the pedestrian friendly Lusail Boulevard, the country’s latest open-air shopping and dining destination. The three-day celebration of Lusail City and the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) region featured concerts and DJ performances, roaming shows and a spectacular nightly drone show.Commenting on the latest arrival figures, Haya Al-Noaimi, Head of Promotion Sector at Qatar Tourism, said: "As we welcome the world’s football fans, we are delighted to see so many people from around the globe keen to experience all that Qatar has to offer. The line-up of events, openings and festivities that have been happening across the country over the last couple of months have been simply unmatched, and we look forward to taking this positive spirit with us beyond December 18th.”Qatar’s active calendar has seen the country’s tourism sector mark a strong recovery this year, with more than one million travellers preferring Qatar as their destination of choice so far, up from 611,000 in 2021.There was an 8% year-on-year increase in room keys issued in the country’s hotels throughout the month of October, a marked achievement given the recent growth in supply.For up-to-date information on events in Qatar, visit Qatarcalendar.com or follow @qatarcalendar on Facebook and Instagram.