Qatar Showcasing New Projects at Seatrade

Doha Grand Cruise Terminal rendering (Woods Bagot)

(PRESS RELEASE)_DOHA, Qatar, 22 September 2021: Qatar Tourism has announced its attendance at the 35th edition of Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami to profile the peninsula’s major new tourism projects and cruise terminal currently under construction.   

The Grand Cruise Terminal, which will be located in central Doha near the Museum of Islamic Art and Souq Waqif, will give passengers a spectacular view on arrival of the West Bay Skyline. Once completed, the terminal will be able to host two megaships at one time and offer various attractions including an aquarium and art gallery.

Qatar Tourism will also highlight all the new and undiscovered experiences that U.S. travellers will find when they now head to Qatar. An exciting calendar of events is underway as the country gears up to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

Chief Operating Officer of Qatar Tourism, Berthold Trenkel, said: “We are continuing to expand our tourism offer and are excited to introduce guests to the best of Qatari hospitality. In 2019 190,000 cruise passengers visited the destination, and among them over 5,000 were U.S. travellers.

“The U.S. market is an increasingly important market for our inbound tourism, and we want to raise awareness about the extensive developments that are well underway and introduce visitors from around the world to the very best of Qatar.”

---

Enhancing the visitor experience

Over the past 18 months Qatar has launched new tourism experiences, restaurants, theme parks, and football stadiums, and is adding over 100 hotels and hotel apartments to its already extensive portfolio of properties. The new properties will broaden Qatar’s appeal to travellers and enhance the visitor experience, as Qatar Tourism continues its mission to welcome six million visitors a year by 2030.
One exciting recent hotel opening is the Banyan Tree Doha, a five-star luxury property elegantly designed by renowned interior designer, Jacques Garcia. Other hotel openings on the horizon include the Pullman Doha West Bay, a five-star Accor property; the JW Marriott West Bay, which features an eye-catching and towering exterior; and the Steigenberger Hotel, famed for its exclusive hospitality.

Earlier this year, Qatar Tourism launched the Visit Qatar mobile app as part of its digital transformation strategy. The app uses innovative cloud-based Adobe Experience Manager capabilities to deliver a rich and data driven, curated experience for users.

Safe and seamless travel

A new streamlined set of measures designed to make travelling to Qatar as easy as possible, while maintaining the necessary precautions to continue to protect against the spread of Covid-19, have been implemented. Qatar was ranked the third safest country in the world this year by Global Finance mainly due to its management and prevention of Covid-19 outbreaks. Qatar’s successful vaccination programme has already seen over 80.9% of the population fully vaccinated.

The “Qatar Clean” programme, launched in partnership with The Ministry of Public Health, enforces the highest standards in hygiene and cleanliness, with rigorous procedures in place to ensure the safety of customers. With 100% of Qatar Tourism-licensed hotels ‘Qatar Clean’ certified, the programme is being expanded to restaurants and rolled out to other sectors including transport, retail and culture. The measures include social distancing, frequent sanitisation of surfaces, and touchless payments, to ensure a safe experience in hotels, shopping malls, and the country’s health clubs and salons.

In addition, Qatar Airways was the first airline to be awarded a 5-Star Covid-19 Airport Safety Rating by Skytrax, alongside Hamad International Airport (HIA) as the first airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded the same 5-Star result. Hamad International Airport was also recently granted the ‘Best Airport in the World’ title at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2021.  

In order to travel to Qatar, U.S. travellers must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with vaccines that are approved for use by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), and travel at least two weeks after they have received their final dose.

For more information on the new procedures and future updates, please visit the website of the Ministry of Public Health (www.moph.gov.qa) and for more information on the latest travel policy to Qatar, visit: https://www.visitqatar.qa/en/plan-your-trip/travel-tips

* * *

​To find out more information, visit https://www.visitqatar.qa/.

​