The Middle East region looks set for a wide-reaching boon from this year’s FIFA World Cup, due to Qatar not being large enough to accommodate all of the 1 million+ football fans expected to visit the host country.
This year’s World Cup will be the first to be held in an Arab country and the first to be held during the winter months; Qatar hosting the 32-team tournament from November 21 to December 18.
Qatar has estimated that 1.2 million football fan visitors will generate around an extra $17bn to the country’s economy.
But the country’s small size means it will find it difficult to accommodate everyone – to the extent that tented communities have been built in desert areas, while shuttle services have been established to connect its capital Doha with neighbouring States; including Saudi Arabia via Riyadh and Jeddah; Kuwait and its capital Kuwait City and Oman and its capital Muscat.
Saudi Arabia hopes to attract around 30,000 visitors around the World Cup, while Oman expects the tournament to raise the profile of many regional destinations around the Middle East and create an economic legacy far outliving the final whistle.
But, it’s Dubai which is expected to see the greatest level of World Cup overflow tourism – with new hotels cropping up and 90 new flights launched to cater for the demand. The emirate is just 40 minutes away from Doha by plane.
