Qatar has received 2.182 million visitors so far this year, with visits of GCC nationals continuing to increase in September, a Qatar Tourism Authority report has shown. The growth in year-to-date (January to end of September) visitor arrivals from the GCC was dominated by visits from nationals of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which increased by 8% and 17% respectively, compared to 2015. Visits from Bahraini and Kuwaiti nationals were up as well by 3% and 2% respectively; while visits from nationals of Oman and were down by 5%. Overall, year-to-date arrivals from the GCC region grew by 7% compared to the same period in 2015. Meanwhile, visitors entering the country on the Qatar-Oman tourist visa increased by 2% year-to-date in comparison to the same period in 2015. Visitors who are nationals of the Americas also increased by 5% between January and September 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. September witnessed the week-long Eid in Qatar Celebrations, a festival which typically draws families from around the region. The number of Saudi visitors alone reached over 100,000 during this month. As Qatar welcomes its first cruise ship on October 18, carrying tourists from 45 countries, QTA projects further modest increases in visitor arrivals during the current month. Qatar's tourism and hospitality industry is building momentum as it enters the second half of the decade, with an ambitious target of four million visitors by 2020, supported by $40-45 billion worth of sector investment under the country's National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 plan. The Gulf state returns to ATM this year to showcase its expanding hotel and tourism infrastructure pipeline following a successful 2015 with visitor numbers in the first nine months of 2014 growing to reach 2.2 million in Q3, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, and booming air connectivity which saw Hamad International Airport exceed forecasted capacity of 30 million passengers last year. According to a Q3 2015 HVS report entitled In Focus: Doha, Tracking Progress, travel and tourism contributed US$4.2 billion – or 2% - to the GDP in 2014, with a figure of $4.6 billion forecast for 2015 (a rise of 7.3%). "Looking further ahead, this is expected to grow annually by 4.7%, to reach $7.2 billion in 2025 as Qatar works towards its strategic goal of positioning itself as a ‘world-class hub with deep cultural roots', by creating a high profile product that will appeal to all market segments from cultural tourists and families to sports fans and business travellers," said Nadege Noblet-Segers, Exhibition Manager, Arabian Travel Market. Other third party officially released data revealed that, in Q3 2015, GCC residents accounted for 45.2% of total visitor numbers followed by visitors from Asia and Europe at 25.3% and 13.9% respectively.
