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Maneesh Bakshi
Doha
The hotel and hospitality industry in Qatar is poised for further growth due to the innovative measures being implemented by the government to negate any impact of the unjust blockade imposed on Doha by its neighbours, according to industry insiders.
Thomas Fehlbier, Cluster General Manager of Banana Island Resort in Doha, said the hotel industry would see substantial growth despite the absence of tourists from the blockading countries, thanks to the government's open-door tourism policy and strategies.
"There is hardly any impact of the blockade on the room bookings this year as the number of tourists from the blockading countries were replaced by increased number of locals deciding to spent their vacations in Qatar itself," Thomas told Qatar Tribune recently.
"Qatar's visa relaxation policy for a large number of countries has had a positive effect on the visitors entering Qatar from western as well as eastern nations. Cruise liners have also brought around 4,000 additional tourists in the past few months, thereby nullifying any impact of the blockade on the hospitality industry," he added.
Fehlbier said,"For me, every cruise line guest at our hotel is a potential candidate to book his next holiday to Qatar so as to explore a new destination and experience the hospitality that we can offer. A lot of visitors from new potential markets such as Russia, China, Azerbaijan and other places are coming to our resort, which is a shift from earlier traditional Gulf market to a much more diversified market."
Haseeb Jilani, General Manager of Doha Downtown Hotel Apartments, said,"There was an adverse effect on our overall bookings in the initial days of the blockade, but we countered it by quickly resorting to a new marketing plan that worked out well for our hotel."
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