Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is targeting the U.S. tourist market with the opening of a representative office in New York, one of the Gulf state’s fastest growing visitor source markets. With the presence of an office in New York, QTA hopes to greatly enhance it’s on-the-ground presence and capabilities by introducing and developing awareness and knowledge on Qatar to tour operators, travel agencies, hospitality partners and media.
“We are confident that this market has great potential for growth with 11 flights daily from 10 U.S. gateways and an innovative activities plan in place to build both trade and consumer awareness of Qatar,” said Rashed AlQurese, the chief marketing and promotions officer at QTA in a press release statement.
Typically seen as a business travel destination, Qatar is now attracting increasing numbers of leisure tourists as well, making it a prime destination for bleisure travel opportunities. U.S. arrivals to Qatar are steady with 93,174 visitors traveling to the peninsular Arab country in 2015 and 50,243 visitors traveling to the country between January and June. On the contrary, the total number of international visitors has soared by 91 percent since 2009, with an average annual growth rate of 13.8 percent, making Qatar one of the fastest growing destinations in the world thanks in part to the bleisure travelers.
Qatar’s marketing campaign in the USA will cover a wide range of promotional initiatives, including workshops, sales visits, travel agents’ e-learning TAWASH destination training, tour operator partnerships, FAM trips, media campaigns and more.
“Our focus will be on projecting the message that Qatar combines top quality accommodation and superb leisure facilities in a clean and safe environment, together with an authentic taste of traditional Qatar hospitality and a range of cultural experiences unmatched in the region,” AlQurese added. For more information, visit visitqatar.qa.
