Rashed al-Qurese: director of Marketing and Promotions at QTA.
Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is organising an outdoor exhibition, encouraging individuals who sell products over Instagram or have their own start-up projects or businesses to take part and market their work.
“The initiative will aid in transforming the virtual online business activity into reality,” said Rashed al-Qurese, director of marketing and promotions at QTA.
It will also help entrepreneurs solidify their projects and encourage them to possibly grow them beyond the online platforms, according to him.
“This project is an opportunity for all of Qatar’s entrepreneurs to showcase their work and gather more support and feedback from the local community,” he explained.
The Instagram Summer Market, held in collaboration with Bedaya Centre, is part of the ongoing Qatar Summer Festival.
The Instagram Summer Market will be set up on the Corniche beside the fountain show. It will start on August 28 until September 28, from 6.30pm to 10.30pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Participation is free and the booth size will be 3x3m.
Al-Qurese said that the aim was to engage a highly-significant sector of Qatari society, especially the youth, which makes up the largest portion in the state’s age structure.
“We thought that this would give them a practical platform to share their ideas with the public and to gain experience in real-life selling and marketing,” he said.
Aside from promoting local start-ups and businesses, QTA presents daily dancing fountain shows until the end of the summer festival. During the week, the fountain show is running from 7pm to 11pm at 30-minute intervals, and on the weekends, the show is on from 6pm to 12pm at 45-minute intervals.
By having the Instagram Summer Market also on the Corniche, QTA hopes to draw more visitors to the activities of the festival and introduce visitors to the multiple events taking place simultaneously.
Those who wish to catch a trip to the fountain show, QTA is offering a free “Park & Ride” shuttle bus service to take visitors from the Q-Post office to various festival venues including the Doha Exhibition Centre where the “Family Fun” is taking place.
The bus departs from the Q-Post office and passes by the two stations in one consecutive route, with the Corniche being the first venue that the shuttle bus stops to drop off visitors.
The bus will be available on an hourly basis during the week starting from 3pm until 10pm. As for weekend, the bus will be available starting from 2pm until 11pm. The service is operated by Doha Bus, Doha’s first tour bus giving visitors a great sightseeing experience.