Recently, the 6th Ctrip Global Partner Summit opened on Sentosa Island, Singapore. 2500 industry guests and cultural and tourism professionals from over 30 countries and regions around the world participated.
At the summit award ceremony, Qatar Tourism Administration was awarded the title of "Ctrip Strategic Destination Partner of the Year" in 2023.
When discussing how Qatar adapts to the opportunities, challenges, and changes faced by the tourism industry in the post pandemic era, Philip, Vice President of International Markets, Qatar Tourism Authority, stated: "Qatar is the fastest-growing tourist destination in the Middle East. Our goal is to increase the number of tourists from 2.1 million in 2021 to 6-7 million by 2030, increase the contribution of tourism to GDP from 6% to 12%, and increase the number of job opportunities in the hotel industry to 250000. Qatar is currently actively seeking rapid growth in the tourism industry, By focusing on supporting cooperation with Ctrip Group, it will become an important way to achieve growth goals.
According to Philip, next year, the strategic planning of Qatar's tourism industry will focus on creating a comprehensive and continuous development direction that covers tourism industry sales and marketing, consumer marketing activities, digitization, public relations, and social media activities, and will cover 15 key markets.
This year, Qatar's tourism industry has welcomed nearly 3 million tourists, an increase of nearly 100% from the 2.1 million tourists in 2019. Despite a 100% increase in hotel room occupancy, there are still many new restaurants, shopping centers, and attractions in Qatar, and we look forward to the arrival of tourists. Philip said that there is still great room for growth in the market share of Qatar's tourism industry in the future. In terms of deepening tourists' understanding of Qatar, Qatar needs to work closely with key partners such as Ctrip Group to attract more tourists to discover and experience our beautiful country. At the same time, Qatar will also provide new attractions for Ctrip Group's customers, helping them grow their business and customer satisfaction. "He said," Our goal is to cooperate with Ctrip, Let Chinese tourists have a comprehensive understanding of Qatar.
In November 2022, Ctrip Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the Qatar Tourism Authority to strengthen tourism cooperation. Ctrip will promote Qatar as the preferred destination for family tourism worldwide. In the future, Ctrip Group will continue to leverage its global leading brand influence and collaborate with its brands including Ctrip (China), Ctrip (Global), Skyscanner. com (Global), Travix (Global), and MakeMyTrip.com (India) to create tourism products that best meet the needs of tourists for Qatar, in order to expand two-way tourist traffic, Actively assist Qatar in achieving its planned goal of attracting 6 million passengers by 2030. At the same time, Ctrip Group and Qatar will also jointly seek to deepen exchanges and cooperation in different fields such as sustainable tourism development, world heritage protection, and tourism promotion.
We have 15 important markets globally, and the Chinese market is our 'top priority', "said Philip, who has been closely monitoring the situation in China. Now, whether it's team tours, free travel, or conference and exhibition services, they have all been opened up. We are organizing and coordinating tourism related resources, and we will work closely with Ctrip Group to showcase as much of Qatar's content and products as possible, better telling the story of Qatar to consumers. At the same time, we also offer many travel packages on the Trip.com platform
Philip introduced that Qatar has rich cultural and historical heritage, wonderful new desert experiences, exciting and prosperous markets, and world-class museums. He stated that in 2019, Qatar received 67000 tourists from China. In the following three years, Qatar launched many new products, attractions, shopping centers, subway systems, doubled the number of hotels, tripled the number of restaurants, and developed many amazing new attractions for the public. It also added well-equipped resorts, shopping centers, water parks, and spa centers. As of the end of August this year, we have received approximately 40000 Chinese tourists, which is a good result. We believe that the Chinese market has greater potential and will continue to increase investment in the Chinese market. That's why we need to work closely with leading partners like Ctrip