The state-of-the-art airport wraps up fantastic programme that immersed passengers in Qatar’s hospitality and culture all summer long

Hamad International Airport’s (HIA) ‘Summer in Qatar (SiQ)’ programme engaged more than 7mn passengers from July to August in its award-winning terminal, it was announced on Sunday. During the summer peak season, the world-class airport focused its efforts on making travel as dynamic, interactive and entertaining as possible ? having partnered with Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC), Qatar Airways and Qatar Duty Free (QDF) to deliver the biggest SiQ programme yet.

Commenting on the success of HIA’s ‘Summer in Qatar’, engineer Badr Mohamed al-Meer, Chief Operating Officer at Hamad International Airport, stated: “We are extremely proud of the efforts and success witnessed during our SiQ programme. The result of our collaboration with QNTC, Qatar Airways and QDF, and the lively entertainment truly highlights our shared commitment to promoting Qatar as a destination of choice and making its hospitable culture shine.


Roaming performers entertain children at the airport during the festivity.

Some of the activations under the umbrella of the biggest SiQ campaign at HIA featured a heritage zone, which immersed passengers from all over the world through more than 260 hours of cultural and traditional performances. The performances included a ‘Traditional Costume Op,’ which allowed travellers to try on traditional Qatari costumes, with these cherished memories captured on Polaroid photos given to the passengers.

The heritage zone also included Qatari traditional dance performances (Fraisa) and a calligraphy artist who wrote passengers’ names in traditional Arabic calligraphy and gifted them to the passengers. Other handicraft activities under the heritage zone included a Henna body art activation and a netmaker, attracting a large number of visitors. Travellers also enjoyed Qatari hospitality by visiting the Gahwa (Arabic coffee) and dates section.

Another popular activation area during the SiQ festival was the kids’ zone, providing children of all ages with a variety of games such as a giant Lego experience and a painting wall where they were able to play while waiting for their flights. The kids’ zone also marked the Eid period by distributing Eid greeting cards and spreading the joyful atmosphere of the holidays.

Featuring some edutainment features, the kids’ zone held a nutrition activation, which gave away healthy snacks to children. Back-to-school activities were yet another activity that helped engage children and prepare them for the spirits of the upcoming school season. HIA also held 98 hours of diverse performance arts roaming in the terminal. Passengers of all ages laughed, danced and took selfies with the parading actors.


HIA's SiQ programme engaged a large number of passengers from July to August.

These acts consisted of unique and colourful shows with distinctive costumes and living statue acts that amused the crowd and received a large amount of interactions.

HIA showcased its commitment to celebrating Qatari culture while also catering to the millions of passengers from diverse backgrounds – reinforcing the airport’s passenger-centric strategy that puts the passenger at the heart of HIA’s operations. With the second quarter of 2019 being the busiest period for the airport yet, HIA effectively demonstrated its ability to continue its smooth and seamless operations during peak season. The airport also curated entertaining initiatives, which witnessed footfall of more than 7mn passengers taking part in its SiQ activities.

“For many, airports are associated with stress and pressure to be on time, check in, and board the flight. However, HIA continuously strives for efficient and hassle-free travel, particularly through our Smart Airport programme,” al-Meer said.

“Therefore, we’re able to process passengers smoothly and enable an entertaining airport experience like no other. Thousands of passengers enjoyed and engaged in our activities, participating enthusiastically and documenting their experiences on social media,” he added. “We will continue to put HIA on the map as an airport with passenger experience like none other while shining a light on Qatar as the preferred tourism destination with world-class experiences,” al-Meer stressed.

HIA passengers with longer transfer times were also treated to an array of digital activations. It devised the ‘Complete Your Story’ Instagram activity, giving passengers a challenge to find the different SiQ activities taking place around the terminal and share their experience on their Instagram stories. Participating passengers were randomly selected to have their stories reposted to HIA’s Instagram account. They were also awarded vouchers to redeem at various food, beverage and retail outlets at the airport.

Setting this summer apart from others, this year’s SiQ at HIA stems from QNTC’s full-fledged tourism campaign that works with local stakeholders to bring an array of exciting new products and activities aimed at providing year-long tourism offerings to communities of all backgrounds, cultures, ages, interests and budgets.




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