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Tribune News Network
Doha
AS Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) continues to diversify Qatar's visitor source markets across the globe, QTA has opened its tenth representative office in Moscow, Russia.
The office in Russia will oversee a wide range of promotional initiatives, including workshops, sales visits, travel agent destination training through QTA's online Tawash programme, partnerships with tour operators, familiarisation trips, media campaigns and a variety of innovative activities to raise Qatar's profile as a tourism destination among Russian tourists.
HE Fahad bin Mohammed al Attiyah, Qatar's ambassador in Russia, attended the opening, and commented,"I am delighted to witness this key development, especially during the 2018 Qatar-Russia Year of Culture, which aims to promote mutual understanding, recognition and appreciation of our respective cultures. As tourism is a means of building bridges of understanding between cultures, Qatar's efforts would not be complete without engaging with the Russian tourism sector."
"The targets set out in our five-year plan for 2017-2023 cannot be achieved without engaging with a number of important markets, key among them Russia," said Hassan al Ibrahim, QTA acting chairman."Russia is a critical source market for Qatar in our efforts to diversify source markets and visitor segments, and that is why we continue to facilitate access to Russian visitors. With the opening of our representative office in Moscow, we are demonstrating our commitment to continue facilitating this access and spreading awareness about Qatar's offering in the Russian market."
Rashed Al Qurese, Chief Marketing and Promotion Officer at QTA, commented:"Russia is an eminent source of outbound tourists and we have identified it as an important source market for future growth, among both leisure and business visitors. Our on-the-ground presence in Russia will enable us to actively promote Qatar to Russian travellers, and develop relationships with members of the Russian travel trade who will sell Qatar as a destination."
He added:"This is yet another demonstration of our country's message Qatar Welcomes the World."
Qatar has become an increasingly accessible destination for Russian travellers, especially after Qatar waived entry visa requirements for Russian citizens. In January and February of 2018, Qatar witnessed more than four-fold (430 percent) increase in visitor arrivals from Russia compared to the same period last year. The country's award-winning national carrier has 28 weekly direct flights connecting the capital Doha to either Moscow or St. Petersburg in Russia.
QTA's office in Russia joins an international network currently covering the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, the United States of America, China, the GCC markets and South-East Asia. QTA officials anticipate the opening of an additional office in India soon.
Russian travellers interested in Qatar also have easy access to information about the destination's tourism offerings, hospitality options and key tourism events online, with its official website (www.visitqatar.qa) which is available in Russian.
