In a bid to augment tourist traffic from the destination, Qatar Airways Holidays, the outbound division of the airline has strategic plans lined up for the coming year. Explains Gregory Epps, manager - loyalty marketing, Qatar Airways Holidays, “This division was set up to bring about professionalism in the travel scenario. Initially, there were no bonafide travel agents and since, it was a small country we also had no tourist office. However, the attempt has been a successful endeavour. With at least 60 per cent repeat customers, we want to encourage Qataris to travel more extensively.”

Epps adds, “Our focus as a travel division is to promote pure leisure travel to the upmarket traveller. In 2002, we sold 7,000 packages. The operations involve promoting destinations we fly to. For example, we push Qatar as a destination in countries like Sri Lanka and Australia, since they have sufficient seat capacity to cater to the demand. However, we cannot push India too much because Qatar Airways does not have the seat capacity.

With regards to the destination, Epps elaborates, “We get a lot of transit traffic. But, our aim is to get tourists to stay a day in Qatar and explore the destination. Qatar is ideal for a three - or four-day stopover. Our inbound division, Discover Qatar is a one-point contact for all inbound business transactions. To provide our tourists with variety, we are looking at combining Qatar along with Oman. Subsequently, we have a lot of Indian migrants who live their entire life here without returning to India, so for the kids we are compiling packages to get them back to their roots. Through this ‘root tourism’, we want them to explore and understand India. This project is being worked out in conjunction with schools.”

Concluding Epps adds, “We want to promote Qatar as a destination but we will retain our identity and develop tourism in a conservative way. This is very evident in the architecture which is modern with an ancient touch.”