Qatar Tourism led the Qatari delegation to the World Travel Market 2021 (WTM) in London, which is one of the major travel trade events. The event returned to physical format this year, after a virtual edition in 2020.
The Qatari delegation comprised 20 industry partners including Katara Hospitality, Qatar Airways, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, and several other destination management companies, apart from hospitality sector members.
On the opening day, the Qatar Tourism stand was visited by a team from the office of Qatar’s ambassador to the UK, led by first secretary Jassim al-Moftah, where he met with various other partners exhibiting from Qatar.
The Qatar pavilion showcased major developments and initiatives from the destination when building ties between international travel trade and members of the tourism sector.
Several meetings were conducted by the sales, marketing and public relations teams of Qatar Tourism to conclude partnership deals to promote the offerings.
The Chief Operating Officer of Qatar Tourism said “We have a host of exciting new initiatives to announce this year, starting with our biggest promotional campaign to date, ‘Experience a World Beyond’. A number of new hotels, theme parks, retail outlets and major leisure projects have recently opened or are set to launch in the lead upto the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, when we will welcome the world to experience the country and all its offerings.”
The campaign targets 17 top visitor source markets for Qatar, and includes nine characters with CGI technology. These characters will bring to life certain image of Qatar, to audiences across major cities in France, UK, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Russia and the US, and on the Visit Qatar website and mobile application, which was launched recently as part of the digital transformation of the entity.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is just a year away, and Qatar Tourism revealed its short-term plans for next year too, with a target of 6million international visitors by the year 2030.
The WTM spans an area of 609sqm, and features huge video screens covering the entire pavilion, playing Qatar Tourism’s latest advertisement, apart from digital towers and tables.
There were huge screens too, where visitors could use gesture control to have a 180-degree immersive tour of Qatar.
The models of eight stadiums, built for FIFA World Cup were displayed, apart from a video footage depicting Qatar’s journey in winning the World Cup bid.
The pavilion also included an F1 simulator, as the Formula One Qatar Grand Prix is due to be held from 19th to 21st November this year.
There was a whole cultural section of the pavilion displaying Qatari heritage, wherein visitors can take away their name or a gift, in Arabic, handwritten by a calligrapher.
The heritage area was surrounded by Qatari desert roses, a souq of spices and dates available to guests to sit in and have their photograph taken.
The WTM London features 5000 exhibitors from 182 countries and regions, and more than 51,000 participants attending the annual event to network and discover the latest industry trends.
