DOHA: Over 6.7 million people visited Katara last year, says Katara’s annual accomplishment report released yesterday.
The 2013 report included all activities and achievements of Katara in the past year and provides a clear vision of the plan being pursued by the institution and its cultural activity efforts.
“By publishing the report, we want to tell the public that Katara is enhancing its energy and potential within a clear strategy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 to develop the cultural movement in the state,” said Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager.
Having attracted so many visitors last year, Katara did not only manage to create suitable environment for them, but also acquired good experience in managing events and activities which satisfied the people, he said, adding people could expect more projects and events — local and international — in cultural areas.
The report issued by the Public Relations and Communications Department says Katara hosted more than 140 events and activities, among them 44 art expos which included seven by Arab artists and 14 by Qatari artists.
It also organised more than 35 lectures and symposiums, featuring prominent international figures and 23 art workshops on Arabic calligraphy, drawing, design and photography, among others.
Twenty festivals on religious and national occasions and four big concerts were also held at Katara.
The events attracted 6,751,584 people throughout the year, with daily average of 18,755 and monthly average of 562,632.
The number of cars that entered the gates of Katara reached 3,204,338 last year.
One of the biggest crowd-pullers during the year was the Eid Al Adha Festival which witnessed 778,803 visitors and the Traditional Dhow Festival with 707,159.
Prominent preacher Sheikh Yusuf Estes’ lecture had over 4,000 people in attendance.
On social media, Katara has attained many of achievements. Its Facebook account reached 165,956 followers in 2013, Twitter 51,546 and the recently opened Instagram account had 70,722.
The numbers are continuously increasing, showing more and more people are getting interested in the fields of art, tourism and culture.
YouTube, one of the platforms Katara is using to disseminate its cultural activities, had 181,354 views because Katara is keen to make videos of its cultural and art events available for people anytime.
These social media platforms are not only being used for promoting events and disseminating information but also for exchange of opinion and raising issues and discussion.
The Facebook account also won several honours, including Pan-Arab Awards and the Arab Social Media Awards.
The annual report says Katara also published books during the year, including on pearl diving, Katara in Qataris’ eyes, the Founder of Qatar, Traditional Qatari Ardha dance, and Castles and Towers and Forts in Qatar.
The Peninsula
