Qatar Tourism opens office in India - The Digital Travellers

Qatar Tourism Authority recently appointed Mumbai based Aviareps India as their representative in India marketing their entry in this market. The eleventh in the network of offices around the world, the Mumbai office is set to tap one of the fastest growing outbound tourism markets in the world, second only to China. In the press conference held in Mumbai, the senior authorities of the QTA introduced the travel fraternity with the wide range of travel products the destination has to offer.

Rashed AlQurese, Chief Marketing and Promotion Officer, QTA explained how rapidly the tourism of Qatar is growing because of the sterling facilities and hospitality.

He said, "India is our number one source market with 3,33,708 people from the sub-continent visiting Qatar in 2017. In the first quarter of this year we have already witnessed 15 per cent growth with 1,10,000 visitors from India. For the whole year we are expecting a similar growth of 15 per cent over last year."

As compared to 2017, India consists of 13 per cent of the overall inbound tourism share in 2017 which has gone up to 15 per cent in 2018.

He also mentioned that one of the reasons for the growth is the visa free entry policy launched for Indian tourists in 2017. Indian nationals do not require any prior visa arrangements and can obtain a visa waiver upon arrival to Qatar upon presentation of a valid passport with a minimum validity of six months and a confirmed onward ticket, he said. The waiver will be valid for 30 days from the date of issuance and entitles its holder to spend up to 30 days in Qatar, during either a single trip or on multiple trips, he added. The destination is easily accessible from India with over 170 weekly flights operated by multiple airlines.