Qatar Airways is looking to grow its business further in China. The award-winning national carrier will keep expanding its network, said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Secretary-General of QNTC, H E Akbar Al Baker, yesterday.
“We are looking at growing our business further in China, vis-à-vis the tourism,” said H E Akbar Al Baker, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of launch of Lancôme Pop-Up store at Hamad International Airport, yesterday. “We want to keep on expanding our network. We want to reflect Qatar as an important tourism destination in conjunction with Qatar Airways and we are making our discover Qatar brand very strong internationally,” he said.
He added that it is Qatar Airways' plan to have a carbon neutral growth in the next 15 years.
The number of Chinese visitors coming to Qatar has seen a consistent rise over the past few years. More than 62,000 visitors from China had come to Qatar in 2018, registering a growth of 38 percent from the previous year.
Qatar Airways currently connects Doha to six cities in mainland China including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Hangzhou.
Qatar Airways had announced, last week at the Kuwait Aviation Show 2020, that it would add eight new destinations to its network this year.
“The Kuwait Aviation Show is the perfect platform for us to kick start the New Year and unveil some of our exciting plans for 2020.
Eight new destinations will be joining our network this year in addition to the recently announced gateways of Santorini, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Osaka, Japan,” H E Akbar Al Baker had said at the opening day of the Kuwait Aviation Show. “With these new routes, our operations will expand to 177 destinations around the world, reinforcing our position as one of the world’s most connected airlines. This ensures we can continue to provide our passengers more options and flexibility when planning their business and leisure travel.”
China is currently the largest outbound tourism market in the world, with almost 150 million outbound Chinese travellers in 2018. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Chinese tourists overseas spent $277.3bn in 2018, up from around $10bn in the year 2000.
China outbound tourism market is expected to reach $365bn by 2025, according to a report by ResearchAndMarkets.com.