2024 Qatar Economic Forum and Middle East Tourism Industry

2024 Qatar Economic Forum and Middle East Tourism Industry

Qatar Hamad International Airport

• Date: May 16, 2024, 11:30 PM
• Location: Hamad International Airport, Doha, Qatar
• Features:
  • Luxury stores and restaurants in the departure hall
  • 7-meter tall yellow teddy bear sculpture by Swiss visual artist Urs Fischer
  • Small stage for performances, including African-themed music by an unknown band

Enhancing Accessibility to Africa

Hamad International Airport and Qatar Airways emphasize accessibility to Africa, using African-themed content for airport promotion.

2024 Qatar Economic Forum

• Date: May 14-16, 2024
• Themes: Aviation and tourism industry
• Main Speakers:
  • Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Tourism
  • Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority
  • Badr Al-Meer, CEO of Qatar Airways
• Session Topics:
  • Connecting the Middle East and Africa
  • Post-World Cup Arab Sports, Media, and Entertainment
  • The Future of Tourism from the Gulf to the World

Saudi Arabia's Tourism Industry Opening

• Tourism Visa: Introduced in September 2019 for 49 countries, including South Korea
• Previous Visas: Only for Muslim pilgrims and business
• Tourism Goal: Attract 100 million tourists annually
• Impact of COVID-19: Pandemic delayed tourism opening

Gulf Countries' Tourism Strategies

Saudi Arabia

• NEOM Project: Developing tourist sites near the Red Sea
• Main Interview Points:
  • Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Minister of Tourism:
  • Saudi's appeal includes diverse landscapes and hospitality culture
  • NEOM Project involves extensive tourist facility development
  • Strategies to attract diverse tourists

UAE

• Tourism Strategy: Maintain the brand of Dubai as the hub of the Middle East
• Features: Dubai International Airport, Zayed International Airport (opened late 2023)

Qatar

• Tourism Strategy: Continue hosting sports events post-World Cup, emphasize cultural infrastructure
• Main Interview Points:
  • Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority:
  • Qatar's unique identity and improved tourism metrics
  • Increased tourist numbers due to the World Cup and AFC Asian Cup
  • Plans to develop medical tourism and benchmark Singapore and Hong Kong

Oman

• Tourism Strategy: Leverage natural landscapes for tourism
• Challenge: Limited oil and gas reserves constrain investment capacity

Saudi Minister of Tourism Interview

• Saudi Tourism Appeal: Diverse landscapes, hospitality culture
• Future Plans: Develop Red Sea tourist facilities, strategies to attract tourists
• Additional Points:
  • Efforts to attract South Korean tourists
  • Positive effects of competition with neighboring Gulf countries

Qatar Tourism Authority Chairman Interview

• Tourism Appeal: Increased tourist numbers due to World Cup and AFC Asian Cup
• Future Strategy: Continue hosting international events, develop medical tourism
• Benchmarking: Singapore and Hong Kong for IT applications and tourism management

Country	Main Strategy	Features and Plans
Saudi Arabia	NEOM Project, Red Sea tourism development, international event hosting	Tourism visa introduced in 2019, delayed by COVID-19
UAE	Maintain Dubai as the Middle East hub	Dubai International Airport, Zayed International Airport
Qatar	Post-World Cup sports event hosting, cultural infrastructure	Tourist increase due to World Cup, medical tourism development plans
Oman	Leverage natural landscapes for tourism	Limited by smaller oil and gas reserves

Conclusion

Gulf oil-producing countries are focusing on developing their tourism industries to enhance national brand images and diversify their economies. The competition among these countries is intensifying, which is expected to improve the overall quality of the tourism sector in the Middle East. The evolving dynamics of this competition will continue to be of significant interest in the future.