Nearly 1 mn availed visa-on-arrival facility in past 14 months

Tribune News Network
Doha
Qatar's visa-on-arrival facility has given a massive fillip to the tourism sector, with the country issuing nearly 1 million immediate visas to visitors in the last 14 months.
Director of Airport Passports Department Brigadier Mohammed Rashid al Mazrouei said the administration issued 958,810 immediate visas between August 2017 and October 2018.
"Qatar has taken new steps to facilitate hassle-free entry of tourists. Citizens of 92 countries have been exempted from the pre-entry visa procedures. Among them, nationals from 47 countries are not required to pay for this visa and will be granted a visa upon arrival at the country's entry ports, provided they have a passport that is valid for at least six months, a return and onward journey ticket and a hotel reservation in Qatar," he said.
These facilities have contributed significantly to the promotion of tourism in Qatar and its introduction as a favourite destination on the global tourism map," he added.
Brigadier Mazrouei said the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has security procedures in place to follow up on those who enter the country.
He said the airport's passport department is fully prepared to receive increasing number of tourists. The department has now up to 450 employees, all of them from Qatar, he added.
The availability of e-gate facility at the Hamad International Airport has played a significant role in the smooth entry and exit of passengers.
This is one of the most important stages of development and improvement of services provided by the Ministry of Interior through Hamad International Airport, which is primarily aimed at saving time and effort of travellers. A total of 24,66190 passengers used the e-gate facility in 2017.
He said the department has completed travel procedures of 11,247,859 passengers (56,74,623 entry and 55,73,236 exit). He said the department is now working on a number of projects to cope with the increase in the number of passengers and reduce the time it takes to complete the procedures in at the passport counters.