Interview: Qatar’s Tourism Chairman Positions His Small Country for Big Growth
Photo Credit: A headshot of the chairman of the Qatar Tourism Authority H.E. Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi. Qatar Tourism Authority
Skift Take
Qatar is a destination in transition, both with an incredible culture and landscape to experience and the socio-political struggles that come with such development. The clearer the tourism board can be in communicating its realities, the better travelers will be equip to approach the country with an open mind.
Editor’s Note: Skift has started a new series of interviews with CEOs of destination marketing organizations where we discuss the future of their organizations and the evolving strategies for attracting visitors. Read all the interviews as they come out here.
This continues our series of CEO interviews that began with online travel CEOs in Future of Travel Booking (now an e-book), and continued with hotel CEOs in the Future of the Guest Experience series.
Drive around the 51 square miles that make up Doha, Qatar and visitors can see a combination of dazzling architecture and the pure blue gulf.
In the manufactured marketplace Souq Waqif, visitors can meet local Qataris or smoke shisha under a warm sky. And at the man-made island of Pearl-Qatar, they can sip mocha lattes or eat grass-fed hamburgers while shopping any number of brand name stores.
This is the Qatar that the country wants foreigners to learn about. A "world class hub with cultural roots" is h
