A family shopping at a hypermarket in Doha for Eid. Salim Matramkot
Doha: Rush at the Doha International Airport picked up yesterday as expatriates began to leave the country to spend Eid Al Fitr holiday with their families back home.
Long queues were seen outside the Departure area of the airport, with travel agents saying that all flights were fully booked for the next two weeks.
Those in Doha rushed to malls and Souq Waqif for final preparations before Eid.
Apart from expats travelling to their countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, flights to Dubai and Turkey were also completely booked.
Many Qatari families are also embarking on their annual vacation as Ramadan draws to a close. Travel plans were delayed this year with school summer break coinciding with Ramadan.
“Most Qatari citizens prefer to spend Ramadan holiday here with their families,” said Junaid Ahmed, a travel agent.
He said that some expat families left for home in the last week of June when summer break started.
“After June, there were not many bookings but that changed over the last two weeks as people began to plan their Eid holiday,” Ahmed pointed out.
He said that Qataris traditionally like to travel to Europe during vacation.
“All flights to London and Spain are mostly full for now.”
Meanwhile, final shopping for Eid was in full swing last night.
Most malls and hypermarkets remained open until 2am and there was little parking space available outside most of them. Large crowds were also seen shopping in Souq Waqif.
The souq is known for its restaurants and youngsters go there to enjoy sheesha with friends. However, it gained popularity for low-rate items among many shoppers this year.
Garment shops in particular saw huge crowds due to low prices as many Qatari nationals were buying new clothes for Eid.
“We usually like to finish our Eid shopping before Ramadan, but we didn’t get much time to go out this time because of fasting and late night prayers,” said Ayesha Khan.
She said that most local beauty salons were fully booked and she couldn’t get an appointment for hena in the salons in her area.
The Peninsula
