The newly-established Qatar Hotels Association (QHA), which is under the umbrella of the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA), recently held its inaugural meeting at the QBA headquarters in West Bay.

This development forms part of QBA’s role in enhancing the presence of the Qatari private sector and activating its role in the national economy, and in representing the various components of the private sector, similar to the formation of the Qatari Businesswomen Association (QBWA).

The meeting was held in the presence of QHA founding members HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, Hussain Ibrahim Alfardan, Sheikh Mohamed bin Fahad al-Thani, Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani al-Thani, Omar Hussain Alfardan, Sheikh Fahad bin Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Nawaf Jassim Mohamed al-Jaidah, Katara Hospitality CEO Andrew Humphreys, Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, Ibrahim al-Asmakh, Nasser Sulaiman al-Haidar, Sheikh Hamad bin Mohamed bin Fahad al-Thani, Mohamed Ibrahim al-Asmakh, and Sarah Abdallah.

“The meeting was launched with the attendance of highly-distinguished businessmen and hoteliers in the State of Qatar as founding members of the QHA, which will operate under the umbrella of QBA, with the aim of creating a common platform for exchanging views, uniting the efforts of the hotel sector leaders in Qatar, and launching initiatives and events for the development of this sector, in light of the vision of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani towards supporting the private sector and increasing its positive contribution to economic diversification and achieving sustainable development of the Qatari economy,” according to a statement.

The meeting began with a presentation on the vision and objectives of QHA, its work plan, and its strategy during the coming period. Sheikh Faisal explained that under the QBA umbrella the association seeks to include all Qatari hotels, foreign hotels operating in Qatar, and Qatari hotels operating abroad.

This would be instrumental in developing and increasing their contribution to the growth and support of Qatar’s hotel sector and raising it to international standards, in addition to holding events and seminars to promote the sector in Qatar and attract regional and global investors, Sheikh Faisal stressed.

Alfardan underscored the importance of establishing QHA, saying “to this day, there are no associations that represent hotel owners in the State of Qatar.” The association, he said, “acts as a unified voice to reflect their aspirations and the challenges facing them or represent them locally and internationally in conferences and exhibitions.”

Sheikh Khalid stressed that the establishment of a hotel association will provide QHA the opportunity to participate in specialised domestic and international conferences in the hotel sector and to obtain insights on new trends and regulations concerning the industry.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Fahad al-Thani said, “The global health crisis and its economic repercussions on the hotel sector, created an urgent need to unify the efforts of hotel sector representatives to exchange views and ideas and make joint decisions.”

Sheikh Fahad added: “The hotel industry is one of the most important pillars of the tourism industry, and establishing a hotel association would support the success of the hospitality sector and increase its contribution to the tourism development.”

Al-Haidar said QHA is the first leading private association in Qatar’s hotel sector that seeks to represent all hotels in the country, including hotel operating companies and tourism facilities, in addition to Qatari hotels abroad.

He also stressed the importance of establishing QHA, “especially with the preparation of the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup events, and working together to represent the authentic Qatari hospitality.”

The founding members also discussed QHA’s proposed activities, such as preparing periodic reports and newsletters to analyse the main economic indicators of the hotel sector and the business environment in Qatar, securing legal advice, obtaining special offers and prices, preparing training courses, working to organise conferences for the hotel sector and social events to gather members and sector representatives, attending trade fairs at the regional and international levels, providing intellectual property protection services, and issuing economic reports on the sector.

They also reviewed an economic report on the hotel sector and the impact of Covid-19, and an analysis of the sector’s economic performance, as well as a presentation of indicators of the operational performance of the sector in 2020. The report also included different support packages provided to the hotel sector in some countries, such as the US, Turkey, and Portugal.