By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter


A total of 50 taxis will ply all over the city of London for next six months, displaying the new Qatar destination brand unveiled by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) yesterday at the World Travel Market.
QTA also has made extensive plans to promote Qatar as a tourism destination with the new brand and its marketing campaign. As part of the programme, QTA will start a marketing campaign that will last until the end of April 2016.
Speaking to Gulf Times in London yesterday, Rashed  al-Qurese, QTA’s chief marketing and  promotions officer, said that an office will be opened in Italy before the end of this year.  “QTA will also open an office in the US and Turkey in 2016,” he said.
QTA has an office in the UK, France and Germany, with the latter also covering Austria and Switzerland.
There will be a wide campaign, both nationally and internationally, to promote the new brand.
“In Qatar, the major focus of the brand campaign will be to raise awareness among the people. Internationally, it will be aimed at fully activating the brand by highlighting Qatar’s tourism potentials and pitching it as a tourism hub,” al-Qurese pointed out.
Qatar-based activations around the destination brand will take place throughout November and December. A global brand marketing campaign will be launched at the end of November to fully activate the brand.
The QTA official highlighted that before the end of 2015, the number of tourists visiting Qatar will reach the 3mn mark. “As of now, over 2.8mn people visited the country this year and we aim to achieve 3mn people before the end of this year.”
According to the official, the tourism sector’s total contribution to the country’s economy will reach 5.1% by 2030, and up to 9.7% of Qatar’s non-hydro-carbon economy. He also pointed out that Qatar is one of the fastest growing destinations in the world, with tourism arrivals averaging 14% annual growth between  2009-2014.