The Foreign Faces Behind Qatar’s Hospitality Workforce
Photo Credit: Flyers check into a flight at the Qatar Airways counter at Hamad International Airport. Skift / Samantha Shankman
Skift Take
Travelers in many global cities complain that it's difficult to meet locals in their interactions with hotel, tour or transportation staff; however, having a truly global view means traveling by means of meeting someone new, no matter the location.
Qatar's tourism industry is experiencing quick growth with visitor arrivals nearly doubling from 1.4 million visitors in 2008 to 2.6 million visitors in 2013. The growth is being driven by Qatar Airways' expanding network, the constant appearance of new attractions, and the country's first real marketing push.
Read our interview with the Chairman of the Qatar Tourism Authority here.
As often happens in quickly growing tourism economies, many of the men and women that visitors meet throughout their trip are not natives of the country they are working in.
According to the Qatar Tourism Authority, a very small number of Qataris currently work in the hotel trade. Expatriate Arabs and Europeans hold many management positions while Asians, primarily from the subcontinent and Philippines, hold service-level positions.
The latest employment statistics available are from 2012, during which there were 31,777 people recorded as working in the tourism sector.
Although not Qatari t
