(MENAFN- The Peninsula) deepak john |
The Peninsula
Doha: Visitors from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries contributed significantly to the strong growth in tourist arrivals to Qatar in December last year.
The country has attracted visitors from across the regions with travellers from GCC countries making up 40 percent of the total arrivals, according to the official data by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
FIFA World Cup 2022 attracted over 1.4 million visitors which has increased the demands in the tourism and hospitality sector. The data shows that 613,612 visitors arrived in December 2022, compared to 146,934 in the same month of 2021, showing a whopping over 300 percent surge on year-on-year basis.
The country welcomed 244,261 visitors from the GCC in December 2022, against 44,612 in the same month in 2021, recording a jump of 447.5 percent annually. In November 2022 the number of visitors from the GCC stood at 128,423 witnessing a rise of 90.2 percent on monthly basis.
Travellers from Gulf region constituted 40 percent in total arrivals. While other Arab countries represented 14 percent as 87,916 visitors came to Qatar from this region in December 2022 compared to 15,175 in December 2021, registering a rise of 479.4 percent on annual basis.
Of the total arrivals, 373,699 visitors came to Qatar by flights in December 2022 against 87,702 visitors in December 2021, registering a rise of 326.1 percent year-on-year. The visitors who came via sea totaled to 7,869 while 232,044 entered the country through land border.
According to the report, from the total visitors, 16 percent belonged to Asian countries. The data revealed that 99,638 visitors came from Asia (including Oceania) in December last year, compared to 41,195 in the same month in 2021, a rise of 141.9 percent on annual basis.
While the European visitors accounted for 17 percent of the total and they stood at 103,067 in December 2022 compared to 33,682 in same period in 2021.
Visitors from the Americas were 68,422 in December 2022, compared to 9,961 in same period in 2021, representing 11 percent.