Qatar Airways Enhances Stop-Over Programs to Boost National Tourism

Qatar Airways

Qatar is aiming to enhance its reputation as a top stop-over hub to boost its tourism sector.

Doha’s Hamad International Airport, the region's second-most connected airport after Dubai International, links to over 170 destinations. Capitalizing on this, Qatar Airways has introduced a new stop-over program.

These new packages will eliminate the need for separate reservations, allowing travelers to streamline their plans by combining flight and hotel bookings in a single itinerary. This enables travelers to stay in Qatar for up to four nights, with subsidized packages for hotels and activities offered through Qatar Airways’ holiday subsidiary, Qatar Holidays.

The country's tourism authority provides transit visas to travelers for about $27 and offers special tours for those stopping over for six hours or more.

Similar stop-over programs are offered by other Middle Eastern carriers to promote tourism. Dubai’s Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad have similar offers, with Etihad providing free night stays and Emirates recently promoting up to two free nights in Dubai.

Qatar is looking to leverage its aviation sector for tourism growth, although its wider tourism industry has not seen the expected boost from the World Cup. Despite Qatar Airways reporting a record profit of 6.1 billion Qatari Riyals ($1.7 billion) for the 2023/24 financial year, and carrying around 40 million passengers, Qatar itself only saw four million international tourists in 2023. In contrast, Dubai’s Emirates Airline had 51.9 million passengers and Dubai welcomed 17.15 million international tourists in the same period.

Qatar has been heavily relying on events to sustain its tourism sector. The country added thousands of hotel rooms for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, which now struggle to fill without similar large-scale events. The country has increased its hotel room supply by a third since early 2022, now totaling nearly 40,000 rooms.

The new stop-over program also serves as a prelude to upcoming Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) packages aimed at promoting multi-country holidays within the GCC. Qatar Airways will facilitate stop-overs in Qatar for travelers en route to Dubai.

A unified GCC visa was first discussed in May 2023 and approved in October. Officials at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai indicated the platform should be ready by the end of 2024. The visa will offer "grand packages" lasting a month, allowing travelers to visit all six GCC countries.

Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE’s Minister for Economy, stated that the unified tourist visa will encourage extended stays, with tourists potentially spending over 30 days in the region. Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, added that the visa aims to lengthen stays, with tourists combining holidays across the GCC.