Visitors to Qatar exceed pre-pandemic levels in October

Visitors to Qatar exceed pre-pandemic levels in October

There were plenty of reasons to visit Qatar in October. Qatar Tourism (QT) data reveals that a suite of events, new launches and impending football fever drove visitor numbers during the month to nearly 180,000 – a six year high.

Throughout 2022, visitors have steadily increased month on month, and the latest October figures exceeded pre-pandemic numbers by nearly a third (32% more than October 2017).

Qatar continues to offer attractions and family-friendly entertainment for visitors from the region, making visitors from the GCC the leading source of all international visitors (over a third at 33%) to the country in October. At the same time, October saw a 10% increase from the prior month on the number of non-GCC tourists, at 66% of the total, an increase of 10%. Non-GCC arrivals hailed mainly from India (13%), the UK (4%) and the USA (3%).

This month, 70% of visitors chose to arrive by air, followed by land (29%), and sea (1%).

A packed schedule of launches and openings greeted Qatar’s visitors in October, including the reopening of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), luxury malls (Printemps), and a spate of world-leading luxury hotels.

Towards the end of the month, the Darb Lusail Festival officially inaugurated the