Eid festivities at Katara - the Cultural Village and Souq Waqif have attracted a large number of visitors from both within and outside the country.

Over 300,000 people have enjoyed the various Eid programmes at Souq Waqif, while more than 337,000 have visited Katara during the festivities.

Mohamed al-Salem, director of Souq Waqif, stressed that the turnout during the Eid festivities exceeded expectations, with almost 50,000 people visiting the place per day.

The Eid festival organised by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) was able to attract an increasing number of GCC tourists, with hotel occupancy amounting to 100% throughout the Eid al-Adha holidays, according to QTA officials.

Officials at shopping malls across the country, where various events organised by QTA were featured, said sales went up considerably during the period as a large number of people turned up to shop and as well as enjoy the different shows.

During the Eid festivities, Katara presented innovative entertainment programmes like the “Big Bang show and the story of the universe”, which also had educational value. Featured for the first time in Qatar and the entire GCC region, it was considered a great experience for different categories of visitors of all age groups.

Other key attractions such as Dreams on Ice and the Angry Birds exhibition are continuing at Katara.

Meanwhile, Qatari and GCC folk and traditional artistic performances were in the spotlight at Souq Waqif, which was the main destination for tourists from the Gulf states, who expressed their appreciation for QTA’s Eid festival.