Doha: Qatar Tourism held a townhall meeting with its private sector partners, with wide participation from members from hospitality, destination management and tourism companies. The meeting witnessed the participation of representatives from private sector entities.
During the townhall, Qatar Tourism addressed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism, whereby the halt of all travel and tourism resulted in a 1.3 trillion dollar decrease in revenue globally. During this time, visitor arrivals to the Middle East decreased by 74%, making it the third largest drop in visitor numbers after Asia Pacific and Africa.
Despite this significant drop in visitor numbers, Qatar Tourism highlighted the performance of the country’s hospitality sector, which saw a limited decrease in revenues – by 18% making it among the best performing country in the sector compared with major tourist cities around the world. Even with the increase in hotel accommodation supply in Qatar, the…