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The Covid-19 vaccines the travelers received should have to be from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health’s approved list
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The individual should also have received the second dose of the vaccine 14 days prior to traveling
Qatar has reopened its borders for fully-vaccinated international travelers, said local reports on Wednesday, July 21.
However, the Covid-19 vaccines the travelers received should have to be from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health’s approved list, said the reports.
The individual should also reportedly have received the second dose of the vaccine 14 days prior to traveling.
This is part of the new travel measures that the country has issued. The guidelines now say tourists and travelers coming to Qatar do not have to quarantine on arrival if they are fully vaccinated.
However, they do need to have a negative RT-PCR test from not more than 72 hours before travel, according to the guidelines.
The new rules are expected to ease travel not only for international passengers but also Qatar residents.
The approved vaccines include Covishield by Oxford-Astrazeneca, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, Comirnaty by Pfizer BioNTech (mRNA vaccine), Spikevax by ModernaTX Inc., and Vaxzevra.
According to a statement by Qatar Tourism, “Travelers have to apply for the authorization through the ‘Ehteraz’ website (free of charge), at least 12 hours before their planned departure to Qatar.”
The statement added: “All in-bound travelers are advised to submit their application as soon as they have all their required documentation, to ensure they can board their flights as planned.
It continued: “Airlines are advised to only let passengers board who have a valid travel authorization for Qatar from the above effective date.”
People of around 80 nationalities can visit Qatar with a free “visa on arrival.” This is the result of the country’s push starting in 2007 to boost tourism.
The country’s tourism sector is a not-insignificant contributor to its economy, but it suffered a blow in 2020 due to the pandemic, when overall international arrivals decline to almost a quarter of what it was in 2019, according to official figures.