QTA chairman Issa bin Mohammed al-Mohannadi and Singaporean ambassador Wong Kwok Pun met yesterday to discuss tourism co-operation between Qatar and Singapore.

By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

The opening of Qatar Tourism Authority’s (QTA) overseas office in Singapore recently is expected to further strengthen the bilateral relations between Qatar and Singapore, Ambassador Wong Kwok Pun told Gulf Times.
Pun said they welcome the opening of this office in Singapore, which will promote Qatar as a leisure destination in South East Asia with special focus on Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
“We look forward to working with QTA to promote more people-to-people exchanges through tourism,” he noted.
The Singaporean ambassador met  QTA chairman Issa bin Mohamed al-Mohannadi yesterday and discussed ways to boost tourism co-operation between Qatar and Singapore.
The Singapore office of QTA is the fifth overseas office after Saudi Arabia which was also opened last year to cover the prime GCC market.
Offices in Germany, the UK and France were opened earlier to cover the European market.
QTA overseas offices were established to attract more leisure travellers from various parts of the world to visit the country.
Officials of these five offices presented some of their plans and strategies during the “Framework Marketing Summit” in Doha in December.
QTA’a chief marketing and promotions officer Rashed al-Qurese said they opened a South East Asian office in Singapore due to the rapid growth of tourist arrivals from the region in recent years.
“Thanks to Qatar Airways’ success in promoting Doha as an aviation hub between Europe and the Far East,” he said in a statement.
Al-Qurese also noted the increasing number of South East Asian tourists who transit Qatar and travel to other countries in Europe and the United States.
“This offers a rich potential source of encouraging stopover tourism business initially,” he added.
About bilateral relations, Pun earlier said that total trade volume between the two countries reached $8bn in 2012, at least 3.8% higher than the previous year.
Pun said Qatar’s investments in Singapore also continue to grow, citing the presence of large Qatari companies such as Qatar Petroleum International, Ooredoo and Tasweeq.
Katara Hospitality, for example, owns Raffles Hotel while Doha Bank and QNB also have investments in Singapore.
The two countries have joint investments in Qatar in environment technology.
At a table discussion in December, a senior official of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said that Qatar and Singapore have numerous opportunities to work together using information and communications technology to further improve the lives of their people.