Top Qatar Tourism Official on the World Cup as a Springboard for Future
Photo Credit: The countdown begins as Qatar gets set to host FIFA World Cup 2022. Visit Qatar
Skift Take
As it prepares to host Middle East's first-ever FIFA World Cup, Qatar expects the event to offer unique marketing potential to place the destination firmly on the tourism map. But for a country whose pre-Covid arrivals stood at 2.1 million in 2019, a goal of 1.5 million tourists for the two months of the tournament sounds overly ambitious.
For an event that comes once in four years, Federation Internationale de Football Association's (FIFA) World Cup 2022 is surely helping Qatar — its host country this year — to create the right kind of buzz for its tourism sector.
As the countdown begins to the biggest tourism event — the Middle East’s very first FIFA — stakeholders talk about wanting to leave visitors beyond satisfied with their "Qatar travel experience."
Neighbouring countries are also trying to make the most of the event. On Wednesday, Iran announced that it would waive visa fees for World Cup spectators, hoping to woo football fans flocking Qatar to visit the neighbouring destination.
Chosen by FIFA over rival bids from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the U.S., Qatar is developing infrastructure to draw tourists in droves during the World Cup.
In conversation with Skift, Berthold Trenkel, chief operating officer of Qatar Tourism, talks about the preparations a
