Qatar to log highest ever tourist numbers this year with Industry experts estimating around 4.5 million visitors

Qatar is poised to have its greatest-ever tourism season with roughly 3.3 million tourists in the first eight months of the year. Over four million tourists visited Qatar in the previous year, which was a record at the time. 3.284 million visitors entered the nation in the first eight months of 2024, up 26% over the same time the previous year. 

Industry insiders predict that there will be around 4.5 million tourists overall in 2024, and that figure will increase to 4.9 million by 2025. 328,000 people visited in August 2024, up 24% from 264,000 in August 2023. Because of the nice weather in the last quarter of the year, there are often more visitors. 

Growth in the nation's tourist industry has been largely attributed to the easing and simplification of visit visa processes via the Hayya platform. Entry into Qatar is free of charge for citizens of 102 nations; citizens of other nations can get an electronic visa by using the Hayya platform. 

Qatar has also attracted record numbers of visitors because of the wide range of year-round tourism attractions it offers. 

The world-class performance of Qatar Airways and the Hamad International Airport (HIA) have contributed to the expansion of the tourist sector. 

During the fiscal year 2023–2024, which ended on March 31, the national flag airline transported over 40 million passengers on over 194,000 flights to over 170 locations globally. 

48.7 million passengers were serviced by HIA during that time, a 27.5 percent increase over the prior fiscal year. 

Moreover, airport freight operations grew by 7.5%, handling 2.4 million tonnes of goods. A boost in aircraft takeoffs and landings was also observed at HIA, with 265,597 movements in 2023–2024, up 23.7 percent from the year before.