September sees international arrivals at five-year high: QT

Starting with the Lusail Super Cup on September 9 to the multi-day celebrations that took place in honour of the Saudi Arabia National Day towards the end of the month, Qatar’s active calendar of events provided tourists plenty of reasons to visit.Arrivals from the GCC made up 44% of total international arrivals, led by Saudi Arabia which accounted for nearly 30% of total figures. Qatar continues to provide multiple points of access and the latest data shows 56% of visitors choosing to arrive by air, 37% by land, and 7% by sea.The Lusail Super Cup had more than 77,500 fans witnessing the inauguration of the impressive Lusail Stadium, the venue of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 final. Toward the tail end of the month, QT organised a weekend of special events and promotions to mark Saudi National Day. Visitors could also take inspiration from Qatar Calendar, which featured a wide array of events from classical music performances by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra to art exhibitions at multiple museums.Commenting on the latest arrival figures, Haya al-Noaimi, acting head of the Promotion Sector, said: “We’re delighted to witness the influx of travellers and look forward to welcoming even more tourists to Qatar and encouraging them to experience the incredible exhibitions, events, and family-friendly festivities we have coming up.”Qatar’s active calendar has seen the country’s tourism sector mark a strong recovery this year, with more than 1.1mn travellers preferring Qatar as their destination of choice so far this year, up from 611,000 in 2021.With quarantine restrictions fully lifted in September, total rooms nights stood at 4.7mn, on a par with 2019 pre-pandemic levels and a significant achievement considering the prolific growth of supply that has taken place.