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| Arabia |
| Qatar unveils plan to become tourist haven |
| 2004-05-02 |
| Saturday, May 1, 2004 Posted: 8:54 PM EDT (0054 GMT) DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- Tiny, energy rich Qatar unveiled an ambitious $15 billion plan Saturday to reinvent itself into a premier tourist destination attracting more than 1 million visitors a year by 2010. At $3,000 per visitor they should just pay people to visit. At first glance, the vision appears overambitious: Sweltering heat and humidity make outdoors impossible in summer, the Gulf waters that lap Qatar’s unattractive beaches are too warm for comfort on hot days, and out of its 800,000 inhabitants, only 25 percent are citizens. The other 75% form an "international community" of desirable (read "wanted") individuals. But Qatar is hoping for a transformation similar to that of Dubai in the nearby United Arab Emirates, which has grown from a desert backwater into the Gulf’s commercial hub and prime tourist destination. It’s the alcohol, stupid. Qatar "will be investing $15 billion into new tourism infrastructure, in what represents one of the largest investments in tourism facilities in this region," said Akbar Al Baker, head of the Qatar Tourism Authority and Qatar Airways. Don’t forget the alcohol. "We expect tourism growth to more than double in the next six years from the 400,000 visitors that presently visit Qatar, to more than 1 million tourists in 2010," Al Baker said as he unveiled the plan at the two-day Global Travel and Tourism Summit that opened Saturday in Doha. He said most funding will come from the government of Qatar, which is fabulously wealthy. Qataris, who number less than 300,000 and are served by an army of expatriate workers twice that size, have the highest gross domestic product per capita in the world. Qatar’s relatively small oil reserves of about 5 billion barrels are expected to last only 10-15 years. But gas reserves are the world’s third-largest, the equivalent of about 85 billion barrels of oil and enough to guarantee future prosperity. According to the master plan, new, self-contained "lifestyle cities" with names like Pearl of the Gulf and complete with hotels, villas and shopping malls will be ready for occupancy in September 2006. New beach and island resorts, eight new four and five-star hotels, sports facilities, theme parks, an Education City and a new $5 billion airport being built by U.S. giant Bechtel in time for the for the 2006 Asian games are part of the plan. Dubai, which has a population of about 1 million, most of them expatriates, is looking to attract some 15 million tourists a year by 2010, three times the current number. Dubai has overcome many obstacles to develop its tourism industry into one of the most successful in the Middle East. A few years ago, Dubai began granting visas on arrival to U.S. and citizens of most European nations. It built self-contained glitzy, air-conditioned shopping malls where shoppers can spend hours in comfort and was heavily promoted as a winter destination. It also began building beaches on reclaimed land far from shore where the waters are cooler and cleaner. Like Dubai, Qatar also eased visa restrictions for Westerners and is more open to a Western lifestyle than other countries in the region, allowing women in swimsuits on the beaches and with few restrictions on consuming alcohol, which is forbidden by Islam. Okay, swimsuits and alcohol. Dear, oh dear, what will the mullahs think? I’m thinking Qatar’s tourist "boom" may well be accompanied by other significantly more audible booms when things finally get rolling. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #3 You have to bear in mind that for many north Europeans, hotter equals better. Anyone who lives in a hot climate goes to great lengths to stay cool and stay out of the sun. Whereas people who are not used to it become completly irrational when it is hot. I can go to any large hotel in Singapore and find people sunbathing in the middle of the day and I guarantee to you everyone of them comes from northern Europe. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-05-02 9:46:15 PM |
| #2 It's not the heat so much as the stupidity. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-02 9:18:28 PM |
| #1 I bet they can pull it off. Picture the brochures - cheap airfare, beautiful beaches, lavish but (cheap) hotels, good food, beautiful belly dancers, persian carpets, camel rides,etc. Oh sure, it's hot, they just won't mention that in the pretty brochures. Besides, the heat doesn't seem to hurt Las Vegas much. |
| Posted by: b 2004-05-02 8:57:13 PM |