Qatar jewellery shops expect brisk trade as cruise season begins

Jewellery stores in Qatar had made profitable sales from the influx of millions of tourists during the World Cup, but while fans have gone back home, merchants here expecting to make brisk business from the cruise season, it is learnt.
According to Malabar Gold & Diamonds regional head Santhosh T V, following the influx of millions of fans to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, jewellery stores may expect a new wave of customers as the cruise season would bring in more tourists to the country.
He noted that the World Cup was a “great opportunity” for the country to promote itself to the international community as millions of tourists arrived in Doha to watch the tournament.
The arrival of the cruise ship 'Le Bougainvilie' at Doha Port on December 25, 2022, signalled the start of the 2022-2023 cruise season, according to a tweet from Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar).
“Managed by the French company Ponant Cruises, the first ship of the season is 131m long and 18m wide, and can accommodate 294 people, including crew members. #MwaniQatar,” Mwani Qatar tweeted on December 25, 2022.
The next day, Mwani Qatar tweeted again saying, “In total 58 cruises are scheduled to call #DohaPort in the new 2022/’23 cruise season. Six cruise liners will make their maiden calls to #Qatar during the season which will continue until April 2023.”
Similarly, Shine Gold & Diamonds marketing head – Gulf Region, Sameer Adam noted that they are expecting more tourists and visitors to continue to push demand for jewellery during the cruise season.
Asked how jewellery stores in Qatar performed during the World Cup, Adam said, “Generally, jewellery stores in Qatar had an excellent performance during the World Cup, especially for shops that are located in areas where many tourists came to visit.”
“For us, we had the advantage of being primarily located at the Gold Souq and Souq Najada, and this has helped us because these areas are where most of the foreign tourists used to stay or visit after attending the matches,” Adam explained.
He said their shops recorded high sales growth during the group matches when most of the fans from the 32 nations competing at the World Cup were in the country to cheer for their home teams.
“As the tournament progressed and came to an end, our sales dipped slightly but the peak sale was during the first 15 days of the World Cup. Our additional sales from World Cup fans for the entire duration of the tournament would be around 50-60% more,” he said.