Tourism Qatar tourists surge 347% in first two months of 2023 By Pramod Kumar March 27, 2023, 8:42 AM Qatar Tourism Qatar officials hope to attract six million visitors a year by 2030 Qatar received nearly 730,000 visitors in January and February this year, a year-on-year increase of 347 percent. January saw 340,000 international visitors, up 295 percent year-on-year, while February reported 389,000 visitors, a 406 percent year-on-year rise, Qatar Tourism said in a statement. Except for the months of the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022, February marked the highest number of international arrivals to Qatar in the past 10 years. Berthold Trenkel, chief operating officer at Qatar Tourism, said the country is targeting six to seven million visitors annually as part of its 2030 strategy, with tourism accounting for 12 percent of the GDP. The celebrations of Kuwait National Day and Saudi Founding Day in the second half of February significantly increased visitors arriving from both Gulf neighbours. Specifically, there were 86,000 arrivals from Saudi Arabia and 20,000 arrivals from Kuwait, which together constituted 73 percent of all arrivals from the GCC and 27 percent of all international arrivals in February. Saudi Arabia stood as Qatar’s biggest contributor, representing 22 percent of total visitors to Qatar in January and February.
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