Qatar Tourism authority to kick off a new festival from 2017

The Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is all set to add a new festival to its calendar of events from 2017, it was announced.

The festival, to be organised by QTA in association with public and private sector partners, will help reinforce Qatar’s position as a preferred family vacation destination within the GCC region, reported Gulf Times.

The details of the festival will be announced next month. However, it is understood that it will highlight Qatar’s burgeoning retail sector.

Figures from Qatar’s Tourism Satellite Account suggests that shopping represented a bigger portion of tourism spending in 2014 than hotel bookings or food and beverage, bringing in QR6bn to the country’s economy.

QTA already runs the Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) and Qatar Summer Festival (QSF).

The number of tourist arrivals in the country has increased, further encouraging the QTA to launch new initiatives.

Who’s excited?