Qatar is gearing up to open three new five-star hotels ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022 as the country prepares to host more than a million international football fans for the world’s greatest football tournament.
With less than 100 days to go before fans descend on the region for the month-long event, which will kick off November 20, new hotels are opening their doors in the Gulf state – the host nation for the first-ever FIFA World Cup in the Middle East – in September and October.
They include the Wyndham Grand Doha West Bay Beach – a 278 -room resort near Doha Corniche – and the St. Regis Marsa Arabia Island on the Pearl-Qatar – a resort spanning a whole island, which will open on October 1. A third – the Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha – is also slated to open in October near Hamad International Airport.
About 1.2 million fans, roughly half the population of Qatar, are expected to descend upon the country state during the event but providing sufficient rooms for visiting fans, teams and tournament staff has been a key challenge for Qatar and organizers have tried everything from cruise ships and desert camps to help ease the accommodation squeeze.
Berthold Trenkel, chief operating officer of Qatar Tourism, said the new hotels are in line with the country’s plans to expand its hospitality industry to fulfil the country’s ambitious goal of attracting more than six million international visitors a year by 2030.
“We are pleased to witness the continuous addition of world-class hotels to Qatar’s thriving hospitality landscape,” he said. “The exemplary service provided by our hotels plays a key role in the overall visitor experience, which in turn helps boost the tourism sector and diversify Qatar’s economy.”
“With new hospitality, cultural and retail offerings, Qatar continues to attract growing numbers of visitors each month, as demonstrated by our current summer season which sees peak figures compared to the past five years.”
The FIFA World Cup is expected to attract fans from 31 other nations to the country. Football fans have so far snapped up 2.45 million tickets to November’s World Cup in Doha, FIFA reported last month, which plans to make three million spots available in total.
