Qatar’s travel industry is poised for a strong recovery given 'the recent and positive developments in the country and the region', according to a leading travel agency in Doha.
“I can’t vouch for the rest of the world, but definitely in Qatar we are pretty positive that travel business will have a strong recovery,” a senior official told Gulf Times.
Besides their interest and keenness to travel, he stressed that Qataris, as well as many expatriates, have high disposable income.
Travel agencies and tour operators, he said, are very hopeful that their sector will recover by the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third quarter of this year.
“By that time, we might be able to see some improvements provided that the Covid-19 outbreak is under control,” he noted.
“It all depend on how the virus moves forward, if the vaccination gets completed, if we don’t run into another problem definitely by the third quarter the travel industry should see some improvement,” he said.
“We have a lot of customers who are calling us daily, asking where can they go but because of the Covid-19 issue, plus the restrictions, people are a bit concerned,” the official added.
However, he said that people are still hesitant to travel now due to seven to 14 days quarantine in many destinations, including Europe and the US.
About bookings, he noted that they have been receiving an increasing number of inquiries, mostly from regular customers who have been travelling to countries like Turkey.
“We have seen some incremental bookings, but not a significant one, but compared to what we have in the last several months, yes we have seen some increment,” the official said.
He expressed optimism that with the vaccine rollout in many countries, including Qatar, and with the gradual resumption of flights, more destinations will welcome visitors once again.
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