His Excellency Mr. Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, President of Qatar Tourism, said that the tourism sector in the State of Qatar witnessed during the year 2026 a journey full of progress, resilience and transformation. His Excellency added, in a speech on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2026, “World Tourism Day is an opportunity to reflect on the development process of the tourism sector, and its role in achieving sustainable economic and social value in the State of Qatar, and as His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the country, affirmed in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, the steadfastness of the State of Qatar is based on proactive planning, readiness, resilience, and sustainable investment in people and national capabilities. These principles remain an approach. “It directs our development path, and today it is clearly reflected in the tourism sector’s journey and development.”
He explained that the progress, resilience and transformation that the sector has witnessed has strengthened our conviction that the future of tourism is not measured only by the number of visitors, but also by the quality of the experiences that we provide to them, and by the strength and integrity of the system that supports these experiences. He pointed out that the State of Qatar, after receiving a record number of 5.1 million visitors during the year 2025, the number of visitors reached about 2.338 million visitors by the end of August 2026, and despite the regional challenges and the disruptions witnessed in the travel movement, the sector continued. Its performance is stable, based on close cooperation between various government agencies and the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors, which reflects the readiness of the tourism system and its ability to deal efficiently and flexibly with changes.
He explained that this cooperative spirit “is not limited to the national level, but extends to our Gulf surroundings, and as the State of Qatar continues its role as the capital of Gulf tourism for the year 2026, we affirm our commitment to strengthening regional cooperation and building a more integrated tourism system, which contributes to consolidating the position of the Gulf as a single tourist destination, rich in its diversity and the integration of its experiences.”
He added that from here comes the importance of developing joint tourism products and offers, and progressing towards a unified Gulf tourist visa, in addition to coordinating promotional efforts in priority international markets. These steps would facilitate the movement of visitors between the countries of the region, open wider horizons for them to discover what the Gulf offers in terms of diverse destinations and experiences, and enhance its presence on the global tourism map.
He pointed out that the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day, which came under the slogan: “The digital agenda and artificial intelligence to reshape tourism,” reflects a transformation that has already begun in the State of Qatar, where technology increasingly contributes to enhancing the various stages of the visitor’s journey, starting from digital entry through the “Haya” platform, all the way to discovering the destination, planning the trip, and accessing various experiences and events. Visit Qatar’s use of generative artificial intelligence also allows for easier and more personalized communication with travelers, while its digital platforms contribute to facilitating the discovery of events, landmarks, and activities in various places. All over the country.
He pointed out that developing tools that facilitate access to information and booking tickets represents part of our broader ambition to provide a seamless, integrated, and digitally supported visitor journey, ensuring that Qatar continues to keep pace with travelers’ aspirations and changing needs.
His Excellency pointed out that as Qatar Tourism looks forward to the year 2027, its focus remains focused on building a competitive, innovative and future-ready tourism sector, which continues to create sustainable value for the State of Qatar, and this requires continuing to diversify and enrich its tourism offerings, starting from culture and entertainment, all the way to sports, wellness and culinary experiences, while ensuring excellence in service at every stage of the visitor’s journey.
He pointed out that investing in the cadres behind these experiences is a key priority, by enhancing skills and capabilities in various areas of the sector through initiatives such as the “Service Excellence Academy,” which works to build highly qualified tourism cadres.
In accordance with the directives of Qatar National Vision 2030, these efforts will contribute to supporting economic diversification, attracting investments, and creating more opportunities for private sector growth, in addition to consolidating the position of the State of Qatar as a tourist destination connected to the world.
At the end of his speech, His Excellency extended his thanks and appreciation to Qatar Tourism’s partners in the State of Qatar, in the region, and at the international level, noting that their cooperation and contributions had a fundamental role in achieving what has been achieved today, adding: “We are proud to continue working with them towards a more integrated and prosperous future for the tourism sector.”
In turn, Engineer Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mawlawi, CEO of Visit Qatar, said, World Tourism Day 2026, which is held this year under the slogan: “The Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism,” comes at a stage in which the tourism sector is witnessing rapid transformations that are reshaping the way destinations interact with travelers, and the ways of planning trips and discovering and benefiting from experiences, and the State of Qatar continues to keep pace with these transformations, in parallel with the continuous growth in its tourism system and the diversity of its offers.
The CEO of Visit Qatar added that in 2026, the tourism sector in the State of Qatar maintained its momentum despite regional challenges, based on a growing base of tourism components and experiences that include cultural and recreational attractions and activities and family experiences, in addition to hospitality, culinary arts and outdoor activities, and this is integrated with a growing calendar of international and local events, as the Qatar calendar 2026-2027 includes more than 560 events in cooperation with more than 780 entities, including It enhances the diversity of experiences, and gives visitors more reasons to visit, explore and return to Qatar throughout the year.
He added: “As the scope of our tourism offers and experiences expands, our responsibility is to make the experience of visiting the State of Qatar easier and smoother, in the simplest possible ways. Technology and artificial intelligence are at the heart of this trend, allowing a more connected journey and responsiveness to the visitor’s needs, starting from the planning stage of the trip, all the way to discovering, accessing and enjoying events and activities.”
He continued: “Visit Qatar was one of the first entities in the region to adopt generative artificial intelligence in the tourism sector. Visit Qatar GenAI Chatbot Trip Concierge, an AI-powered travel companion, helps visitors explore the destination and prepare their travel itineraries through more personalized interactions, enhancing their ability to discover what suits their interests and benefit from their experiences in the State of Qatar.”
Al-Mawlawi stressed that we will continue to build on these foundations through a unified digital platform for booking tickets, scheduled to be launched in the last quarter of this year. The platform will provide an integrated digital portal for visitors, event organizers, tourism activity operators and sector partners, which will contribute to facilitating access to events and activities, and bringing together more components of the tourism system in the State of Qatar within one platform.
He pointed out that we are continuing to work on facilitating visitors’ access to information about the events and activities taking place in the State of Qatar, as the new user interface element (Visit Qatar Widget) provides quick access to events directly from the user’s device, in a way that is integrated with the Visit Qatar application, whose number of users exceeded 230 thousand users during the year 2026, compared to about 105 thousand users in 2025.
He added that this growth reflects the increasing role that technology plays in connecting the public to the destination, and helping them benefit more from their time in the State of Qatar.
Engineer Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mawlawi, CEO of Visit Qatar, concluded his speech by saying: “There are great horizons before us, and our focus at Visit Qatar is on stimulating demand for the destination, in parallel with continuing to develop experiences that enhance its attractiveness. This requires working with our partners to enrich the events calendar in the State of Qatar, expand entertainment and luxury offerings, enhance the country’s position as a leading regional destination for business events, and consolidate service excellence throughout the tourism system, and through our international presence.” Through our global campaigns and digital platforms, we will continue to bring the State of Qatar closer to audiences around the world, and support the continued growth of the tourism sector to achieve sustainable value for the State of Qatar.”