Engineer Abdulaziz Ali Al -Mawlawi, CEO of “Visit QATAR” confirmed that the tourism map in Qatar changed completely after the 2022 World Cup, as the number of visitors increased in millions. During the year 2023, more than 4 million visitors were received. What gives an ascending indication that Qatar is going on the right path towards its goal by receiving 6 million visitors annually by 2030, which is expected to happen before this date, and the tournament also contributed to attracting more tourists to the Gulf and the Middle East.
This came during a discussion session on the sidelines of the conference “Sports Tourism and Tourism Industry after the World Cup”, which was held recently in Doha, with the participation of a group of experts and specialists, which touched on the issue of the impact of sports events on tourism in the Middle East, and for the role it plays in promoting sustainable tourism . The policies that the State of Qatar and the neighboring countries can be reviewed to convert the Middle East to a global destination for sports tourism.
Engineer Abdulaziz Ali Al -Mawlawi, CEO of “Visit QATAR” said that Doha’s choice of hosting the conference reflects Qatar’s commitment to strengthening the tourism sector in the post -World Cup, and its constant endeavor to raise the level of the tourism experience offered by the country. Pointing out that Qatar succeeded in implementing a strong structure for the World Cup, as it carried out 8 stadiums that are the best and the latest in the world, most of which depend on environmental sustainability and obtained international certificates in this regard.
Al -Mawlawi touched on the mechanism of using the stadiums after the end of the championship, which formed an obsession for some, but the State of Qatar succeeded in employing it later by hosting many international events and events and through the use of these sports and non -sporting facilities, they were re -employed by distributing these experiences to different parties by establishing a central device that takes over Managing major events in the country from an organizational and security point of view, including the “Haya” platform on the way that was used during the World Cup to facilitate the entry process and activate it later to serve the same goal by facilitating the entry of tourists and visitors, noting that the reuse of all these ingredients is from The most important goals of sustainability.
In response to a question about the impact of the weather and temperatures in Qatar on hosting sporting events, the CEO of “Visit QATAR” said that seven of the World Cup stadiums were equipped with these matters by fully adapted. If the temperature abroad is 35 or 40 ° C will be on the field Between 19 and 25 degrees, which gives Doha the power to host any championship at any time without being affected by the weather factor, as we adopted during the design the possibility of reducing the stadium capacity from 60 thousand to 40 thousand seats and other stadiums from 40 to 20 thousand seats, for a few of the cost of operating it from the side and approved Environmental sustainability on the other hand, including the 974 stadium, which has relied on the base of its construction on the iron counterats, which allows it completely dismantling and transferring it anywhere in the region and the world.
On hosting sporting events in the Middle East and Qatar specifically in the future, Al -Mawlawi said that the discussions are always continuing and do not stop as the local agenda depends on hosting activities throughout the year. For example, we host the Qatari Super Cup of Football Cup, and that the Arab Cup 2025 hosted by Doha is hosting For the second time, in cooperation with the International Football Association, there are other championships throughout the year in basketball, volleyball, tennis, pair, and others.
He added: «There are also various activities hosted by the region through the competitions hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to the last Gulf Cup hosted by sister Kuwait and achieved great public success.
On the mechanism for attracting tourism to Qatar and making it an attraction for visitors from all over the world, Al -Mawlawi said that there is a focus from Qatar for tourism on exploring the causes that make the tourist think about traveling to Qatar or reluctant to do so, as we rely on promotional campaigns to introduce tourism ingredients from infrastructure For roads, means of transportation and services, in addition to hotels from all groups, they meet the aspirations of visitors in addition to the most important element that occupies the mind of any visitor, which is the safety in which the State of Qatar is classified among the highest in the world and the 2022 World Cup, the best evidence of this, as the tournament contributed to changing the entire idea in the global media On the State of Qatar and the region, which reflected positively on the increase in the rates of tourist flow.