(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar's hospitality sector stands to benefit from the newly-implemented transit visa scheme, which is an initiative designed to further boost the country's tourism, Rotana COO Guy Hutchinson has said.
'If we can only pull around 5% of the passengers who transit Doha to spend one or two nights in Doha, it is a huge number. This is really a very critical change for us and the other piece is marketing, he told reporters on the sidelines of the recent Rotana GCC roadshow in Doha.
Hutchinson stressed that focusing on ‘destination marketing' and promoting Qatar's state-of-the-art tourism infrastructure will attract more foreign visitors from the GCC and other countries in the world.
The new transit visa structure allows passengers with a minimum transit time of five hours at Hamad International Airport to stay in Qatar for up to 96 hours without applying for an entry visa ahead of time.
'Anytime you make it easier through visa regulation to visit a destination, anytime you do visa on arrival, and anytime you make it easy for transit visa, it is a very big stimulus to tourism, the COO noted.
'Everywhere we have seen that and we've seen a positive impact. The biggest issue really is this transit visa change, it is a very phenomenal opportunity for us, he added.
Hutchinson also expressed confidence that a government plan to give ‘visa-on-arrival' to citizens of China, Russia and India will open new opportunities for the hospitality sector, especially Rotana.
He also said that a flourishing tourism and hospitality industry can contribute substantially towards the country's drive to diversify away from the oil economy.
The service sector is expected to be the largest contributor to the national gross domestic product, which is forecast between 3.6% and 3.8% from 2016 to 2018, according to the COO.
He sees major attractions in Qatar, including Lusail City, Msheireb Downtown and Qatar Entertainment City, to become popular leisure destinations in the coming years.
'In terms of travel trends, intra-regional travellers from the GCC especially Saudi Arabia remain the dominant source market for Rotana and the industry as a whole, the COO said.
Rotana continues to see a very strong pattern of Saudi travellers outbound despite 'going through its own transition a reason for the company to open two more hotels in Doha in the next two years.
Rotana opened two hotels in Saudi Arabia last year, and plans to open four more: two in Riyadh, one in Jeddah, and one in Al Khobar.
Due to some austerity measures, Hutchinson said the Saudi market is now looking for destinations closer to home such as Bahrain and Doha 'areas that are more regional and we expect to benefit from that.
'There are a lot of ancillary things which come around, giving Qatar a lot of visibility and momentum, he pointed out. 'For us, this is really a destination with world class infrastructure, with ambition, with determination, and with a drive to develop even further.
'When you see this factors come together, this gives an organisation like us a lot of confidence in the future of the destination, the COO added.
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