Qatar Tourism Authority to participate in the 36th meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Middle East

As an official member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Qatar will be represented by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) in the 36th meeting of the UNTWO Commission for the Middle East. The Qatar delegation, headed by HE Mr. Issa Bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Chairman of QTA, will be attending the annual meeting taking place on the 27^th and 28^th of November in the headquarters of UNWTO in Madrid Spain. 

The UNTWO annual meeting will provide the Middle East Commission with an overview of the long-term prospects for Tourism development, globally and in the Middle East – North Africa region, as well as the opportunities and challenges the region will face in the future. 

UNWTO’s forecasting study “Tourism Towards 2030” revealed that growth in international tourism will continue at a moderate pace with the number of international tourist arrivals increasing to 43 million tourists a year on average and climbing to 1.8 billion tourists by 2030. The Middle East region is expected to capture 8% of the 1.8 billion with a steady growth of 4 million tourist arrivals per year. 

On this occasion, HE Mr. Issa Al Mohannadi, Chairman of QTA commented “QTA’s participation underlines its mission to place Qatar on the world’s map and take a leading position in the region by fully utilizing the country’s key memberships of the world tourism industry’s key regional and international commissions. The Middle East’s tourism industry has grown considerably over the past few years. With the number of international tourists forecasted to reach 134 million visitors by 2030, Qatar is heavily investing in the infrastructure of the local tourism industry as QTA seeks to attract the largest share of the arrivals coming into the Middle East.” 

“These Tourism Ministry meetings are key opportunities to keep us up to speed with the latest findings and key elements that will drive the tourism industry in our region. The knowledge and expertise shared at these types of commission meetings contribute to QTA’s strategy to help grow the tourism industry in Qatar. We hope that the 36^th session of the UNWTO Commission for the Middle East will result in our sharing useful knowledge about the industry and lead to effective consensus and decisions that will help us overcome any challenges that the region may face by 2030.” added Al Mohannadi. 

QTA is a member of the UNWTO Commission for the Middle East alongside Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen.