Doha and the US county of Miami are exploring options for joint co-operation in the fields of aviation and maritime as part of efforts to strengthen the bilateral economic and business relations between Qatar and the US.
In this regard, Qatar’s Minister of Economy and Commerce HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani met Lester Sola, director and chief executive of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, and Juan Kuryla, director of the Port of Miami.
The Miami International Airport has about 44mn passengers count annually and Qatar Airways operates to Miami with its passengers or cargo flights.
Sheikh Ahmed noted that the city of Miami is one of the most important tourist destinations for Qatari tourists in the US. Expressing Qatar’s keenness to develop maritime tourism, he said Doha Port receives a number of the largest cruise ships.
The Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) last year announced that Doha Port is all set to welcome 21 ships for the 2017-18 cruise season.
QTA, at present, is reportedly in talks with major European cruise liners to share the latest developments in Qatar’s tourism industry, including the ongoing redevelopment of Doha Port into a permanent cruise terminal and tourist hub. The discussions aim to foster more interest in Qatar as a cruise destination, and to increase the number of cruise liners, which add Qatar to their itineraries for the following seasons.
QTA had earlier said it continues to work with local and international partners to carefully plan, develop and manage the cruise terminal facilities, infrastructure and operations needed to achieve sustainable growth.
Once all developments are completed, it is projected that the cruise industry can attract more than 500,000 passengers and generates QR350mn annually by 2026.
Qatar’s US economic tour kicked off from Miami, and will include several major cities: Florida; Washington, DC; Columbia; Charleston; South Carolina and Raleigh and North Carolina.
The programme features holding economic forums and bilateral meetings, in addition to bilateral meetings between Qatari businessmen and their American counterparts and holding round tables in the fields of real estate investment, hospitality, tourism, hotel and technology, health, medicine, banking, law and public-private-partnerships and infrastructure projects.
HE Sheikh Ahmed with Kuryla and Sola. The Miami International Airport has an annual passenger count of about 44mn and Qatar Airways operates to Miami with its passengers or cargo flights.
