"Given that a large proportion of the 30mn passengers are just passing through the HIA annually, it is an opportunity for the tourism sector in Qatar to really develop the destinations and draw these passengers out of the airport," suggested David Goodger, Europe, the Middle East and Africa tourism economics director at Oxford Economics.
Speaking at Qatar Projects on Tuesday, he observed that many transit passengers would want to spend at least two days in the country to roam around Doha and visit museums and other touristic destinations.
Oxford, working with the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), expects continued tourism growth in the country, citing nearly 3mn visitors in 2015. Qatar is also expected to maintain and even gain some share from all key markets, according to Goodger.
The Hamad International Airport
While a large contribution from this growth is expected to come from Asian countries, he stressed that huge dependence from the other GCC countries such as Saudi Arabia will remain.
“Saudis seem to recognise Qatar as a great family-friendly destination and that is one area where we see a large amount of growth,” Goodger added. “It is the Saudis, and the GCC families and tourists who have a very strong growth component and it will continue to be.”
To allow more transit visitors to enter Qatar, the official said QTA is considering some measures and policies such as easing issue of visa which have huge potential benefits to the tourism sector.
“Qatar has great transport links, a lot of people moving through the airport, it comes with fixing the visa facilitation,” he said.
“If the transit visa is easy to get with a longer validity period (it is currently 24 hours), and encourage people to step outside the airport, it is really a large gain for Qatar as a destination,” he added.
Oxford Economics had done a number of studies looking at various countries across Europe, the G20, and Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation on visa facilitation. It also looked at case studies about similar measures such as issuing electronic visas and visas on arrival which make it easy for people to travel.
“We have seen in all these cases, so it is a clear benefit to those countries that have taken these measures in the past years,” Goodger said.
Based on the results of their research, such policies work best with improved transport links and global marketing efforts, he said.
“Museums and cultural attractions also seem to have been a huge draw for destinations worldwide and this is something we noticed well underway in Qatar,” he added.
