Qatar Tourism announced the launch of the Qatar Calendar 2026-2027, which includes more than 560 events, with the participation of about 780 partners, and offers a comprehensive package of diverse events and activities that meet all interests and bring together families and friends from all over the world.
The Qatar calendar presented by “Visit Qatar” is the unified platform that brings together various activities in the country under one umbrella, and reflects the spirit of constructive cooperation between partners from various parties. It also emphasizes the importance of unifying efforts to develop a unified national program that includes the most prominent events in Qatar.
The calendar is promoted through a variety of marketing tools, including printed publications that have been doubled to reach 35,000 copies per month. Electronic copies of the calendar are also distributed internationally in 120 countries around the world in cooperation with the embassies of the State of Qatar, in addition to the digital calendar on the official website of Visit Qatar and the mobile application.
His Excellency Mr. Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, President of Qatar Tourism and Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Visit Qatar,” stressed that the Qatar calendar has become an integrated system in which Qatar communicates with the world, pointing out that its importance stands out as the unified national platform that brings together under its umbrella all cultural and entertainment events and sports tournaments organized by various state agencies.
He added that the real strength of the calendar lies in the amount of promotion and support it provides for each event and granting it widespread circulation among residents and visitors alike, as it has become for the media a reliable source rich with full of stories and an effective tool that not only reflects the vitality of the tourism scene in Qatar but also conveys it professionally to the public.
He added that this achievement would not have been achieved without the combined efforts and close and fruitful strategic partnerships with various government agencies and private sector institutions to provide an integrated and seamless tourism experience that reflects the diversity and continuous growth witnessed in Qatar’s calendar and the vision of “Visit Qatar” in supporting Qatar’s position as a leading global destination.
He noted the prominent role of the tourism sector in the national economy as one of the most important pillars of economic diversification, saying: “Our comprehensive strategy focuses on pumping investments into quality tourism projects and providing an attractive and stimulating environment that ensures the growth and prosperity of tourism investments while providing all possible means of support to our partners in the private sector. We are also constantly working to adopt innovative digital solutions and develop new attractions to ensure the sustainability of economic growth in the sector and achieve excellence in service in a way that supports Qatar’s competitiveness as a global tourist destination in line with the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
His Excellency Mr. Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, President of Qatar Tourism and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Visit Qatar, stressed the importance of employing the tourism sector and major events to achieve wide-ranging economic value that includes the hospitality, retail, transportation and other sectors, as well as supporting job opportunities and the growth of small and medium enterprises, in line with Qatar’s goal of increasing the tourism sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to 12 percent by 2030.
During a discussion session on the sidelines of the launch of the Qatar calendar 2026-2027, Al-Kharji stressed the importance of focusing on digital tourism and ease of access, pointing out the importance of improving the visitor’s journey through the “Haya” platform, providing seamless digital services, and facilitating the procedures for obtaining entry visas for travelers from more than 100 countries, ensuring that they have an easier and smoother travel experience to the State of Qatar.
He stressed the importance of strengthening the frameworks of joint cooperation between Qatar Tourism, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and partners in the government and private sectors, to ensure the sustainability and consolidation of the position of the State of Qatar as a leading global destination for tourism and hosting major events, noting that Qatar hosted major tournaments such as the 2022 World Cup, which was preceded by efforts over years of work and development to make this major sporting event a success, and the subsequent continuity and benefit from this huge legacy.
He continued: “After the World Cup, we found a developed infrastructure at a high level, and there was a great development in the hospitality, hotels and resorts sector, as well as an increase in tourism awareness among the local community within the country. In addition, visitors to Qatar during the World Cup increased their desire to repeat the visit again, as the number of visitors to Qatar doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, and this was one of the most prominent results of hosting the World Cup.”
He pointed out that the stereotypical image of the region in general has been changed, not only in Qatar but in all countries of the region, as the tournament demonstrated to the world the ability to organize major events, which formed strong foundations for the success and growth of the tourism sector and benefiting from existing assets and development in the hospitality, aviation and transportation sectors.
Al-Kharji pointed out the development of the Qatar Calendar platform to reach the population of Qatar and visitors to Qatar and to access all social media platforms and market various events in the country, which led to an increase in the partners of the Qatar Calendar, noting that Qatar Tourism has a main goal of contributing to the diversification of the gross domestic product so that the contribution of the tourism sector reaches about 12 percent of the domestic product by 2030.
He said that Qatar Tourism targets tourist markets at specific times, noting that it organized the “Hello Summer” campaign in the month of May by attracting families in Qatar, the Gulf region and neighboring countries with well-thought-out campaigns directed at them, as there was a large influx of visitors.
For his part, His Excellency Mr. Hassan bin Abdullah Al Thawadi, Managing Director of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, stressed the importance of employing the advanced infrastructure, distinctive components and exceptional expertise that resulted from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, to host major future global tournaments, especially the 2027 Basketball World Cup and the 2030 Asian Games, pointing to the consolidation of the position of the State of Qatar as a global center of expertise in organizing and presenting major events, while highlighting It relies on Qatari competencies that are increasingly relied upon internationally to support efforts to organize and manage the most prominent global events.
Al-Thawadi added, during his speech at the discussion session held on the sidelines of the launch of the Qatar calendar 2026-2027, that expanding the scope of the impact of major sporting events to extend beyond the stadiums across the Qatar calendar, by integrating sports passion with cultural experiences, entertainment, shopping offers, and culinary arts, which enhances the attractiveness of the State of Qatar as a leading and preferred tourist destination throughout the year.
In turn, Engineer Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mawlawi, CEO of Visit Qatar, stressed their focus over the past two years on increasing awareness and promoting the Qatar Calendar through several initiatives, most notably adopting the Qatar Calendar as a sponsor of all events in Qatar and printing about 35,000 copies of the calendar on a monthly basis and distributing them to the most important tourist facilities in the country, in addition to electronic copies distributed to governmental and semi-governmental agencies. Several advertising contracts were also signed in the streets, cinema screens and a number of important sites in the country to promote the events. As well as intensifying advertising and promotion of the calendar platforms.
The CEO of Visit Qatar added that Qatar is known for global events and international hosting in various fields, noting that one of the most important stages in a tourist’s journey is the “Haya” platform, the platform that provides visas to more than 100 different nationalities, pointing out that the “Haya” platform is in the process of launching an initiative and a package of incentives, benefits and offers for visa holders, and the details will be announced soon.
In the same context, he pointed to the cooperation between Visit Qatar and Qatar Airways by broadcasting an awareness video on planes before arriving in Doha about the events, the calendar platform, and after the visa and arrival in the country, noting that the year 2026 has so far witnessed a significant growth in the number of users, reaching 230,000 users, compared to 105,000 users in 2025.
Al-Mawlawi announced the launch of a unified digital platform for booking tickets linked to Visit Qatar to facilitate the visitor, citizen and resident experience, and the platform will be available by the end of this year.
He explained that the unified national calendar shows the real strength in joint work between the public and private sectors and benefits everyone, noting the high public turnout for attending events, in addition to the high rate of interaction with the calendar’s platforms on social media to 1.6 billion interactions to date in the year 2026.
He stressed that the calendar management works by monitoring and analyzing several data, including the tourism target countries, the target audience, and statistics of previous events to benefit from in drawing a map of events, pointing out that the numbers and results reflect the strength of the events and their impact on the economy, as the number of visitors exceeded the level of 5 million visitors in 2025, and the hotel occupancy rate exceeded 71 percent, equivalent to 10.8 million hotel nights, and the tourism sector supported more than 163 thousand jobs in the local labor market.
On the sidelines of the events, Visit Qatar signed a number of memorandums of cooperation and strategic partnerships with prominent entities and institutions in the country, including: Qatar Railways Company “Rail”, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, MELT Live, and the Aspire Zone Foundation.
These memorandums strengthen existing strategic relations, consolidate joint cooperation frameworks, and establish a joint work platform that allows the parties to develop promising opportunities within future activities and initiatives, and other areas of common interest, based on mutual visions and ambitions and the integrated experiences enjoyed by all parties. More details regarding the specific projects and initiatives that will be implemented within the framework of these memorandums are scheduled to be announced later, in due course.
In the same context, Mr. Jassim Mohammed Al Ansari, CEO of Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail), said: “The memorandum of understanding signed with Visit Qatar reflects Qatar Rail’s keenness to enhance the role of public transport in supporting the tourism and events sector in the State of Qatar. Through this partnership, we look forward to employing the services of the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram to facilitate visitors’ access to various destinations and events, and raise awareness of the public transport options provided by our networks, which contributes to providing an integrated and world-class transportation experience in various areas.” Events throughout the year.
He added: “Through this memorandum, we aim to establish a strategic partnership that supports the integration between the public rail transport system and the tourism sector in the State of Qatar. This partnership comes within the framework of the efforts of both sides to enhance and support the ease of visitors’ access to events and tourist destinations in the country, in line with the state’s plans aimed at developing a more integrated and sustainable tourism experience, as well as consolidating the position of the State of Qatar as a leading destination for tourism and events.”