The ninth edition of the Qatar-Germany Business and Investment Forum in Berlin witnessed the birth of several partnerships in leisure, cruise and sports tourism, which would boost the country’s reach in German-speaking and European markets, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) said Saturday.

In a press statement, QTA acting chairman Hassan al-Ibrahim said the forum, held under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, provided an important platform for them to strengthen ties with key German stakeholders in the fields of tourism and investment.
“QTA and its local and international partners have succeeded in establishing a presence for Qatar in the German-speaking markets over the past few years, and we are on track to become a preferred winter vacation destination for tourists from this region,” he noted.
Al-Ibrahim showcased the importance of the German market to Qatar during the panel 'Tourism, Health and Sport: The Road to 2022', explaining that Germany is an important visitor source market for the country, and is showing steady growth, particularly in stopover and transit visitors.
In the first eight months of 2018, Qatar saw a 42% increase in German visitors compared to the same period last year, according to QTA. 
A highlight of the forum on the tourism front was the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the German Aida Cruises and the Italian Costa Cruises, which was attended by Qatar’s Minister of Transport and Communications HE Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti and Mwani CEO Captain Abdulla al-Khanji, along with notable industry officials.
Through the MoU, QTA and the cruise liners will establish a partnership aimed at developing cruise tourism with Qatar. It also includes the possibility of co-operation to build attractive packages and special services dedicated to Costa Cruises and Aida Cruises guests, in addition to joint communications, co-marketing actions and familiarisation trips. 
The initiative will focus on Doha, which already provides a state-of-the-art cruise terminal, and aims at building a strong relationship between the cruise lines and Qatar in advance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The forum also witnessed a joint announcement by QTA and Sports for Life, organisers of the World Corporate Games, that the 2019 edition will be held in Qatar under the slogan ‘Qatar, where the World comes to compete’. 
The 23rd edition is set to be held in November and will be the first ever to take place in the Middle East. 
Leveraging the forum’s platform, QTA extended an invitation to German industry and business leaders to have their teams join the world’s largest multisport festival.
“Sports Tourism is one of six focus areas the Next Chapter of the National Tourism Sector Strategy seeks to develop. The hosting of mass participation events such as the World Corporate Games supports our goals for developing a vibrant sports and recreation tourism sub-sector in Qatar, in addition to helping us tap in to business tourism opportunities,” QTA’s chief marketing and promotion officer Rashed al-Qurese said.
The World Corporate Games take place every one-two years and the last edition was held in Houston, Texas in 2017. The Qatar edition is expected to attract 5,000 participants.
“We are delighted to be bringing the Games to Doha in 2019. Doha is a phenomenal global capital of sport having hosted many elite world championships in handball, para-athletics boxing, with many others still to come,” World Corporate Games founder Dr Maureen Johnston said.
“We are proud to be joining the likes of these outstanding events, and opening up a competitive and fun global competition to the business community in the region for the first time,” she added.
QTA officials also met with DER Touristik Deutschland to explore ways of further boost awareness of Qatar as a tourism destination and attracting more visitors. 
The two parties recently signed a partnership through which DER Touristik will considerably expand the portfolio of its tour operator brands Dertour and Meier’s Weltreisen Qatar offers for the 2018/19 winter season: the existing day trip offer is being complemented by multi-day tours and the accommodation options on offer will increase to include a total of 14 hotels.