Qatar Tourism and the UK & Ireland chapter of the Cruise Lines International Association have announced a partnership connecting the country with Clia’s community of operators and travel agents.
Clia said in a statement that extensive tourism development is under way in Qatar as the country works to “diversify and build upon its offerings and broaden its appeal for visitors” ahead of and beyond the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022.
It hopes to welcome more than 6 million visitors a year by 2030, with new hotels and hotel apartments, activities, theme parks, shopping malls, and other projects either recently opened or under construction.
In 2019-20, Qatar welcomed 207,000 cruise visitors to Doha. The country reopened its borders on July 12 to fully-vaccinated international travelers.
As part of the partnership, Qatar Tourism will be one of the main headline sponsors of the Clia Selling Cruise Day on November 4, 2021, in Southampton, the organization said in the statement.
It added that Qatar Tourism would also sponsor the annual Clia Cruise Forum in December 2021.
According to the statement, Clia UK & Ireland Managing Director Andy Harmer said about Qatar as a tourist destination: “The region was proving increasingly popular with cruisers and we’re all looking forward to seeing ships start visiting the exceptional facilities of the Doha port and its surroundings again.”
Qatar Tourism CEO Berthold Trenkel was quoted by the statement as saying: “As Qatar has reopened its borders, we are looking forward to welcoming back cruise travelers from around the globe.”
