Major players in Qatar’s travel industry, including stakeholders, such as agents engaged in operating destination management companies (DMCs), benefited greatly from the recently concluded FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, an industry expert has said.
“The recently concluded FIFA World Cup has been phenomenal and a boon to the travel industry in Qatar, especially for the agents who have been engaged in DMC operations. Although outbound travel has seen a slump, inbound travel in Qatar, however, has seen considerable growth in the last three months,” Tawfeeq Travel Group CEO Rehan Ali Syed told Gulf Times Monday.
He said: “The start of 2022 was not that good for the industry since the initial few months were impacted by the Omicron variant. But with summer travel, the entire fraternity has seen tremendous growth way above our expectations compared to last year. However, the last quarter saw a drop again in outbound travel due to the restrictions on travel from various organisation to manage FIFA requirements.”
According to Syed, Qatar has seen “a major recovery” in 2022 compared to last year, adding that overall, “it has been a mixed year” for the country’s travel and tourism industry.
“The numbers are encouraging. However, we have still not managed to go beyond the pre-Covid-19 levels. In the initial months and pre-FIFA period, there has been a slowdown with expats opting to stay back in Qatar to experience the World Cup rather than travelling abroad. One of the other major factors that impacted outbound travel has been soaring airline prices,” Syed explained.
Asked if the FIFA World Cup helped the travel and tourism industries make up for their losses from the Covid-19 pandemic, Syed said: “No, we still have not managed to reach the pre-Covid-19 levels.”
He said: “However, the 1.4mn visitors experiencing Qatar’s hospitality did give us a boost during the last month during the FIFA World Cup. The local industry was further impacted by the fans opting to stay in other GCC countries and doing shuttle flights. The non-availability of hotel rooms during the initial period caused a major dent in the business.
“Since most of the inventory was taken over by match hospitality, we, as local agents, couldn’t get our hands on the hotel rooms. Generally, fans coming from western countries seem to confirm their travel arrangements in advance to secure the best deals.”
Tawfeeq Travel Group CEO Rehan Ali Syed
