The panel delved into Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s plans to boost the region’s tourism sector in the coming years.
Tourism experts have found that the “fastest growth” in the travel and tourism sector is in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, told a panel at the Qatar Economic Forum on Wednesday.
“For Accor and many of us, the GCC is the fastest growth region on the planet in travel and tourism[…]we are already 25 percent better than in 2019,” he said, noting that each country has a different touristic experience to offer.
Bazin spoke at a panel titled From The Gulf To The World: The Future of Tourism’ where other speakers included Saad Bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairman of Qatar Tourism, and Saudi tourism minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb.
The panel delved into Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s plans to boost the region’s tourism sector in the coming years.
Notably, Qatar was under the global spotlight in 2022 when it became the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup. The major tournament attracted tourists who used it as an opportunity to explore the rest of the region.
At the time of the major event, the international arrivals in the country crossed 2.5 million, 19 percent over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
When asked about Qatar’s plans to boost the sector, Al Kharji said that the country is building on its success at the time of the tournament.
“We are now working on upholding the benefits of hosting the World Cup and developing our strategy to enable the private sector and tourism to grow,” Al Kharji said.
The World Cup also inspired the GCC to begin discussions in 2023 on establishing a unified visa, widely dubbed as a Gulf “Schengen-like” visa that could ease travel across the region.
Commenting on what the Gulf region has to offer, the Qatar Tourism chairman noted that the GCC’s “genuine hospitality” is a crucial element of tourism.
He also underlined the importance of collaboration by countries within the region to attract tourists to the Gulf, adding that the unified GCC visa will play a role in this regard.
In March, Qatar and Saudi Arabia launched the ‘Double the Discovery’ project in a bid to unlock the potential of collaborative efforts in the region.
The project aimed to offer international visitors the opportunity to discover the “cultural and historical wonder” of Qatar and Saudi Arabia within a single trip.
Saudi Arabia is also on its way to attract tourists with the King Salman International Airport. Last November, the Kingdom unveiled the master plan of the airport, set to contribute $7.18 billion annually to the country’s non-oil gross domestic product.
