DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has won the Best Arab Government Tourism Authority 2015 Award, an Arab tourism award granted by Arab Centre for Tourist Media.
QTA won the award based on official Arab studies and statistics estimating Arab tourist flow to Qatar at 27 percent-the highest rate in the Arab world.
“We share this achievement with Qatar, represented by Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani for the support granted to the tourism sector.
“We would also like to share the achievement with the hospitable people of Qatar,” said Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Chairman, QTA.
“We are proud of this award, as it constitutes an achievement on the Arab tourism level.
It is also the outcome of our commitment to the National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, which is an integrated long-term plan to support and develop the tourism sector through a series of effective programs and projects.”
Qatar welcomed more than 2.8 million visitors from the region and the rest of the world in 2014, representing 8.2 percent growth over 2013.
Since 2009, international visits to Qatar have increased by 75 percent with an average annual growth rate of 13.8 percent.
Qatar managed to attract visitors from several key markets, notably the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, from where 40 percent of the visitors came in 2014.
Some 28 percent of the visitors originated from various parts of Asia and Oceania, while 15 percent came from Europe.
Visits from all world regions have grown substantially over the past five years, with Asian and GCC visitor markets expanding by 107 percent and 102 percent respectively since 2009. Visits from Europe have also surged 82 percent over the past five years.
Hussain Al Mannai, Chairman of the centre, announced the award at a press conference held in Amman, Jordan under the patronage of the Jordanian Tourism Minister, and in the presence of a number of Arab journalists specialising in tourism.
Al Mannai also announced 20 other winners of the Arab tourism awards for 2015.
The centre launched the awards, known as the “Arab Media Tourism Oscars” in 2008, aimed at highlighting the tourism press in the Arab world.
The centre sent several ‘media caravans’ to many Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and the UAE to promote their tourist attractions.
The 2015 award winners were announced as part of the Arab tourism ‘media caravan’ dispatched to Jordan, which included 22 journalists from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. The visit to Jordan was aimed to highlight the country’s tourist attractions and landmarks. The Peninsula
