London is top tourist destination for Qataris

Published: 3 December 2024

UK received about 84,000 visitors from Qatar in 2023

DOHA, QNA: Tourism and travel sector experts have said that the British capital, London, tops the list of tourist destinations for Qa-tari citizens, indicating that Qataris prefer the UK as a primary destination for tourism, education, healthcare, enter-tainment, and shopping, in addition to ownership of real estate and investment assets.

According to the latest data, the UK received about 84,000 visitors from Qatar in 2023, with a total expenditure of about GBP 241.2 million, and Qatar Airways operates about 56 weekly flights to all British cities.

Qatar Tourism (QT) told QNA that the number of British visitors to Qatar reached 182,110 visitors from Jan. to Nov. 16, 2024, exceeding the total number of visitors recorded in 2023.

According to QT data, the total number of British visitors coming to Qatar reached 159,500 visitors in 2023, compared to 117,294 visitors in 2022.

Tourism specialist Ahmed Hussein said that Qataris have been accustomed to visiting the UK and British cities for dec-ades, pointing out that London is a favourite destination for citizens.

Qatari-UK relations are characterized by a historical specificity that gives them weight and uniqueness that is reflected in all areas of cooperation between the two countries, as the two countries are linked by many agreements and memoranda of understanding in various fields, especially in the tourism sector.

Qatar Airways considers the UK a major destination in Europe that connects the East and the West, as it operates more than 50 weekly flights to the UK, including about 10 flights to Heathrow Airport, and the rest of the flights are distributed to other cities in the UK such as Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, and others, Al Qudwa added.