Qatar visitor arrivals from Gulf neighbors drop 18% in 7 months

Qatar’s hospitality sector continues to record weak performance, as visitor arrivals from the Gulf Cooperation Council and other Arab countries continues to fall as the Gulf diplomatic crisis enters its fourth month.
Qatar recorded a drop of 18 percent in visitor numbers from its neighbor countries in the first seven months of 2017 to 656,681 compared with 804,875 during the same period last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.

The diplomatic crisis seems to have also impacted visitor arrivals from other Arab countries as a nine percent decline was recorded during the period.
However, in the first half of the year, Qatar registered 10 percent growth in visitor arrivals from Europe and the Americas, over the corresponding period in 2016.
The increase in arrivals can be attributed to the government waiving visa requirements for 80 nationalities and the launch of an online visa application service for all nationalities.
Qatar, with financial reserves of $340 billion (SR1.27 trillion), has been supporting its economy through the infusion of capital, which, according to a Moody’s estimate, was around $40 billion in the first two months of the conflict with its neighbors.

The ratings agency has changed the outlook on Qatar’s rating to negative from stable in July, saying that ‘the dispute has severely impacted trade, tourism and banking in Qatar, and increased the country’s financing costs’.
Acknowledging this for the first time, the Qatar Tourism Authority in its latest tourism report said: “May and June saw a drop in arrivals, partly due to slowdown typically seen during Ramadan, which this year fell between May 25 and June 24, and as a result of the regional diplomatic dispute, with large falls in arrivals from GCC and other Arab countries.”
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