Tag Archives: Qatar

Come explore Qatar, a vibrant desert peninsula, surrounded by a spectacular coastline, that offers plenty of adventure sports, family fun, culture and more. Attend the ‘Curated in Qatar’ exclusive webinar organised by Visit Qatar hosted exclusively for the travel trade on Wednesday, Nov 23, 2022 at 3pm IST and come one step closer to becoming a Qatar Specialist. Write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532 to register. From traditional souqs to high-street shopping, natural wonders, and thrilling adventure sports – discover all that this Peninsular Gulf country has to offer.

According to a report by ResearchAndMarkets.com titled ‘India Outbound Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (M!CE) Tourism to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries – Market Trends and Opportunities to 2025’ released in December 2019, UAE is the top destination for Indian MICE tourists. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain accounted for more than 15 per cent of the share of the total outbound MICE spending by Indians in 2018. The India outbound MICE market to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is set to surpass US$ 5 Billion by 2025. The report uses a country-focused analysis to explore India outbound MICE tourism market to GCC countries. The report includes historical data from 2014-2018 and forecasts until 2025. It covers six GCC nations: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain.

Citizens of India can now be granted a visa waiver for a period of 30 days on their arrival in Qatar, upon certain conditions. The passenger’s passport must be valid for at least six months and must have a confirmed return ticket. He/she must have a valid credit card. (For a family travelling together, the card must be in the name of the passenger or one per family). Passengers should also provide a confirmed hotel reservation.

Indians travelling to Qatar can now avail the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) facility made available by the Qatar Ministry of Interior for nationals of 80 countries. Indians will no longer require prior visa arrangements and can now obtain a visa wavier upon arrival, according to a statement released by Qatar Airways. Electronic Travel Authorisation will allow eligible visitors to obtain visa by completing a simple online application prior to travel to Qatar. This wavier will be valid for 30 days from the date of issuance and will entitle its holders to spend up to 30 days in Qatar during either a single trip, or on multiple trips. This wavier may be extended for a further 30 days. As part of the application, travellers will be required to provide proof of their accommodation like hotel bookings, details of their return or onward travel, a copy of their passport with a minimum validity of six months and a copy of their residence permit or visa to be aforementioned countries, with a minimum validity of 30 days.

Citizens of 80 countries including India can now enter Qatar visa-free. Besides Indians, travellers from the UK, the US, Canada, South Africa, Seychelles, Australia and New Zealand will be able to enter Qatar visa-free. “Citizens of these 80 countries wishing to visit Qatar will not need to apply or pay for a visa,” Qatari officials announced in a release said. “A multi-entry waiver will be issued free-of-charge at the port of entry, upon presentation of a valid passport with a minimum validity of six months and a confirmed onward or return ticket,” the release added. “Depending on the nationality of the visitor, the waiver will either be valid for 180 days, and allow the visitor to spend a total of 90 days in Qatar (multiple-entry); or it will be valid for 30 days and entitle the visitor to spend up to 30 days in Qatar (multiple-entry) with the possibility of applying for an extension of the waiver for an additional 30 days,” it said. Hassan Al Ibrahim, Acting Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority said: “With 80 nationalities eligible for a free visa waiver upon arrival, Qatar is now the most open country in the region and we are delighted to invite visitors to discover our renowned hospitality, cultural heritage and natural treasures.” In November 2016, Qatar introduced a free transit visa, which allows passengers of all nationalities transiting in Qatar for a minimum of five hours to stay in Qatar for up to 96 hours (four days). In May 2017, QTA and Qatar Airways launched +Qatar, a package which includes a free night’s stay in a 5- or 4- star hotel in Doha, alongside a complimentary transit visa. (Source: Economic …

From the morning of 5 June 2017, Etihad Airways has suspended all flights to and from Doha until further notice. The last flight from Abu Dhabi to Doha departed as EY399 at 02:45 (local time) on June 5. The last flight from Doha to Abu Dhabi will depart as EY390 at 04:00 (local time) on June 5. Refund is permitted free of charge whether the ticket is wholly unutilized or partially utilized as long as there are travel segments on/after 5 June, which are impacted by this cancellation. Refund on partially utilized ticket must be calculated based upon pro-rata mileage flown Guests may contact their travel agent through whom the original ticket was purchased or any Etihad office to process the refund.

Tourism and air traffic in Qatar is likely to witness a significant dip following four Arab nations—Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—severing diplomatic ties with the country over allegedly backing terror groups, including Islamic State. The four countries have not only declared to withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar, they have also said they plan to cut air and sea traffic to the peninsular country. While it is not clear how that would affect Qatar Airways, one of the region’s major long-haul carriers, but it could be a big jolt to the airline as well as tourism in and out of the country.

Tourists and businessmen from India and 17 other countries can now travel to Russia’s Far East without a visa, informed Dmitry Medvedev, the Prime Minister of Russia. In order to boost tourism and investment in the region, the nationals of these 18 countries will have simplified entry procedures into Russia through the free port of Vladivostok. According to Pavel Volkov, Deputy Minister, Development of the Far East, tourists and entrepreneurs will only be required to fill a form on the website of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Applications will be approved within four days. Electronic single entry visas will be issued directly at the Russian border and will be valid for 30 days. The 17 countries apart from India include Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey, and Japan. “I have recently approved the list of countries, whose nationals can take advantage of the preferential regime. We are proactively forming the modern infrastructure and creating special regimes in the far East; the law on visits to the Vladivostok free port was approved in March. This is not because these states are situated at a closer or longer distance – we are appropriately introducing bilateral agreements on visa-free travel for those ready to use such an approach for us,” said Medvedev. Volkov further said, “We’d like to see an increase in tourism to the region by at least 30 percent. Given the fact that every wealthy tourist spends at least $1,000 in the territory, we assume this will significantly increase the opportunities for the development of the region, trade turnover, and currency flows.” Source: Live Mint  

Strengthening its position in the Middle East, IndiGo has introduced its first daily non-stop flight connecting Doha to Delhi and Mumbai. Doha is IndiGo’s 7th international and 46th overall destination. With Doha as a new destination, IndiGo is all set to enhance connectivity between India and the Gulf region after Dubai, Muscat and Sharjah. The introduction of direct flights connecting Doha to New Delhi and Mumbai will open more convenient travel options for business and leisure travellers including the Indian expatriates based in Middle East. Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said, “Being an economic and cultural hub of Qatar, Doha attracts a lot of business and leisure tourists. Adding Doha on our network is in line with our growth strategy and more so for the Middle East. IndiGo has established itself as a preferred carrier on India-Gulf routes. We are hopeful that this daily service would also prove equally popular with our flyers.”

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Qatar for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism. The main objectives of the MoU are to create favourable conditions for long-term co-operation in tourism, exchange expertise, publications, information/data and statistics related to tourism, encourage cooperation through the exchange of programmes, propaganda and marketing of their tourism products via media etc. The MoU also entails exchange visits of tour operators and media for promotion of two way tourism. It will also encourage co-operation between tourism sectors, tour operators, travel agents and other tourism private sector’s firms and bureaus in the two countries. Qatar is an emerging tourism source markets for India (India received approximately 6313 tourists from Qatar in 2015). Qatar is a potential market for India in terms of Medical tourism and provides vast opportunity for India in this field. The signing of MoU with Qatar will be instrumental in increasing arrival from this emerging source market.