Tourism set to double Qatar GDP contribution - report

TOURISM GROWTH: A new report sees Qatar's tourism industry growing to $12bn by 2012. (Getty Images)

Qatar's tourism sector is predicted to double its contribution to the Gulf state’s economy by 2012, according to an Oxford Business Group forecast.

The report said Qatar was making steady progress towards its goal of becoming a major player in the Middle East’s tourism industry and its present gross domestic product contribution of around $6bn could rise to $12bn over the next three years.

”The state has set itself a target of attracting at least 1.4m visitors by 2010, having first broken through the 1m barrier in 2006. In 2007, it improved on this total, with 1.2m arrivals,” said the study quoted in The Peninsula on Thursday.

Qatar has embarked on a large-scale infrastructure programme including a new $11bn airport which is being built outside Doha that will be able to handle around 50m passengers a year when completed in 2015.

Hotel room numbers are also set to jump, with projects already approved raising the total from the 2007 level of 7,000 to some 26,000 by 2012.

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