QTA: Tourism Direct Impact on GDP Reaches One Billion and 600 Million During Shopping Festival

Doha, February 21 (QNA) - The direct impact of tourism on the country's GDP during Qatar Shopping Festival is estimated at one billion and 600 million Qatari Riyal, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) announced. Meanwhile, the direct impact of tourism during Qatar Summer Festival in August 2016 is estimated at QR 639 million. Speaking at the Festival closing ceremony on Tuesday, Director of Tourism Festivals and Events at QTA Mashael Shahbik said that the period of Qatar Shopping Festival also witnessed an increase in the number of visitors coming to the state by 16.8%, compared to the same period last year. Hotel occupancy rate in the hospitality sector reached 70.5% during the Festival days. She noted that the mentioned growth was the result of promotions, recreational activities, and the events which accompanied the Qatar Shopping Festival, in addition to other attractive festivals held in the same period, such as Souq Waqif Spring Festival, Al Wakra Festival and others. The Festival period recorded significant growth in the number of visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), she said. Total visitors from GCC citizens reached 188 thousand and 513 visitors during the period from January 7 to February 7, representing an increase of 23% over the same period last year. Visitors from Saudi Arabia amounted to 133 thousand and 849 visitors during the Festival. The half-term holiday in January also witnessed a significant increase of 43% in the number of visitors from Saudi Arabia, compared to the same holiday in 2016. For his part, Head of Tourism Development Sector at QTA Hassan Al Ibrahim said that festivals and events are a key component of Qatars urban and family entertainment portfolio, which the country has taken great strides in developing in line with the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy and the needs of our visitors. He noted that QTA is building all the ingredients needed for a touristic experience reflective of Qatar and its people through exciting new additions to the annual calendar of events, as well as new retail, entertainment and cultural products. Spread across ten main locations, Shop Qatar ran from January 7 to February 7 offering residents and visitors a variety of shopping promotions, outdoor activities, live entertainment, beauty and fashion events, musical performances as well as comedy acts. QTA introduced the annual shopping festival following a notable growth in Qatars retail sector, matched by a strong contribution to tourism. According to Qatars draft Tourism Satellite Account, shopping represented a larger portion of inbound and domestic tourism spending in 2014 than tourist accommodation or F&B, contributing QR6 billion to the economy. Meanwhile, the festivals support for young Qatari entrepreneurs has offered a platform to showcase their products, in addition to incentivizing new entrepreneurs to enter the retail sector. Forty-two small businesses were present at the festival. Showcased at the thirty pop-up shops spread across five of the participating malls, locally designed and produced goods were represented in the festival, and helped entrepreneurs gain exposure to visitors and residents. (QNA)