Qatar Travel Mart (QTM 2021) Conference to be held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center from November 16 to 18 has attracted more than 75 local and international companies, it was announced here on Sunday.
These firms cover sectors such as airlines, hotels and resorts, tour operators, destination management companies, cruise lines, transportation and travel technology, NeXTfairs for Exhibitions and Conferences said.
Rawad Sleem, co-founder and general manager, NeXTfairs for Exhibitions and Conferences said QTM will be under the patronage of HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani.
The event will provide insights and new perspectives to the future of tourism, while also offering most sought-after travel destinations, real estate development projects and up-to-date luxury, business, medical, sports, MICE, halal tourism, leisure and cultural tourism trends.
Qatar Tourism is the strategic partner of QTM, while Discover Qatar and Qatar Airways Holidays are the leisure partners.
He said the event will attract wide international participation, including firms from Italy, Cyprus, the Maldives, Azerbaijan, Rwanda, the Dominican Republic and other countries that seek to enhance their presence in the Qatari market.
Retaj Hotels and Hospitality, which is one of the most prominent companies in Qatar, is a gold sponsor of QTM, along with Doha Bus, a Qatari company that provides programmes and transportation services to the tourism in a modern way to introduce the landmarks of Qatar, adding a fun atmosphere to tourists from all over the world.
Sleem explained that the wide participation of both local and international companies reflects the great confidence in the Qatari market. Moreover, it confirms the start of the recovery phase of tourism and hospitality from the repercussions of coronavirus, especially that Qatar’s global tourism attractiveness is now higher than ever as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 countdown draws closer.
He stressed that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed entry into the exhibition.
Furthermore, all precautionary measures will be applied to ensure the health and safety of the participants, exhibitors and visitors during the exhibition.
The measures include regular and consistent disinfection of the halls and the public and private places as well as ensuring thorough disinfection of areas that entail meeting and communicating with visitors, especially reception halls, and other common places.
The disinfection process will be carried out by highly trained technicians in accordance with international safety standards wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and using the latest spray technology.
Sleem noted that the latest data issued by the World Travel and Tourism Council indicated that the contribution of the travel and tourism sector to Qatar’s GDP amounted to QR63.6bn, an estimated rate of 9.1% in 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
Moreover, according to the WTTC the tourism industry and its related services provides about 250,1000 jobs, representing 11.8% of the total workforce in Qatar.
As for international visitor spending on travel and tourism in Qatar, it amounted to about QR48.4bn in 2019.