Qatar does not only focus on the business segment of tourism; leisure is also a vital focus on the vcountry’s target market.
Travellers on business trips have access to a multitude of entertainment options; Fehlbier described, "To add excitement to the mix, Banana Island Resort is bringing visitors a vast choice of activities to inspire, relax and thrill at the resort's recreation centre.
[...] The centre presents guests with a myriad leisure activities such as a fully-equipped fitness centre, surf and swimming pools, [...], Velo-Taxi tours, racing simulators, and a range of sports including volleyball, bowling and tennis, in addition to a host of land activities. In addition to that, the resort boasts the first and only wellness centre of its kind in the Middle East, its own helicopter pad, marina, and dive centre."
Indeed the combination of business and leisure is a key aspect to conveying Qatar as a wealthy business hub for international visitors.
Corporate travellers therefore spend money on Qatar's business sector as well as their leisure sector.
Corporations are also focusing on the combined tourism sector in order to accumulate more interesting and interactive incentive trips as Fehlbier added, "Banana Island Resort Doha by Anantara offers attractive full and half day meeting packages that include everything any corporation may require to conduct effective meetings, incentive trips, or team building activities."
Another factor contributing to the consolidating of Qatar as an ideal business hub is the efforts of inbound transport one main example being Qatar Airways.
The airline's objective is to expand its destination routes worldwide as a way of increasing its revenue. Through this initiative, Qatar Airways is providing access to a larger group of international visitors wanting to reach Qatar. Operating in 150 destinations globally, the airline allows an easy connection to Doha through it's headquarter hub, Hamad International Airport.
MICE HAVEN
Securing Qatar's future in the MICE tourism industry, hotels are amplifying their services by adding high quality concierge services and meeting packages as Kemal Bayik, director of markting, Four Seasons Hotel Doha, said, "We will continue to invest in direct sales, consumer marketing and PR efforts, to drive more interest for MICE business from emerging as well as key feeder markets."
Maintaining a unique selling point, Chelyakova expressed the hotels added services such as incorporating rich traditions into every aspect of customer service, from its century-old butler service to Rolls Royce limousine service, to a tradition of fresh flowers in every room.
Extra luxuries, enhancing the overall customer service, include assistance on the business side of trips; City Centre Rotana Doha provides 24-hour business centre assistance to ensure all events are supervised for any necessary help. In addition, Karam said, "Our professional team will always be ready to customise your meetings or events."
The straightforward service of hotels organising MICE conventions in Qatar's welcoming locality are evident in the above services as well as through the fact that newly designed technologies are regularly implemented in meeting rooms in order to meet the requirements of the global challenging market.
FUTURISTIC QATAR
The next chapter for Qatar, based on the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, aims to attract 5.6 million visitors to Qatar annually by 2023, double the number which the country welcomed in 2016.
It also aims to achieve a 72 percent occupancy rate across all hotel establishments, through a combination of increasing demand and diversifying the country's tourist accommodation offering.
In conclusion, the plan is to expand the country's calendar of year-round tourism MICE events by running global campaigns to market Qatar as a tourism destination and by increasing the number of representative offices around the world thus the number of markets covered internationally, to attract even more people to the country.
