This year’s FIFA World Cup is expected to generate around $4bn in tourism revenue for host nation Qatar and the wider Middle East.
The likes of Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman are expected to significantly benefit from the tournament as well as Qatar, which is set to claim around 85% of the commercial windfall.
This year’s World Cup runs from November 21 to December 18. It will be the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world. It will also be the last World Cup to feature 32 teams before being expanded to 48 teams in four years time.
As well as getting a natural tourism overflow bounce, due to their proximity to Qatar, each country is due to benefit due to Qatar being too small to accommodate all of the 1 million+ football fans who are expected to attend.
But, Qatar is doing its bit on accommodation also. The country has announced it will open three new 5-star hotels ahead of the big kick-off in November – less than 100 days away.
Three of them – including the 278-bedroom Wyndham Grand Doha West Bay Beach – will open before the end of October.
Qatar Tourism said the country hopes to attract more than 6 million visitors per year by 2030, as part of its World Cup legacy. The 1.2 million people due to visit for the World Cup equate to half of Qatar’s general population.
“With new hospitality, cultural and retail offerings, Qatar continues to attract growing numbers of visitors each month, as demonstrated by our current summer season which sees peak figures compared to the past five years,” said Qatar Tourism’s chief operating officer, Berthold Trenkel.
So far, around 2.45 million of the proposed 3 million tickets FIFA are putting on general release for the World Cup have been sold.
Qatar Airways has been bumping up its fan package offers – including flights, accommodation and match tickets – of late.
