Qatar Tourism Authority withdraws from GIBTM to focus on restructuring exhibition plans

This year’s GIBTM will feature a Qatar Pavilion hosting various exhibitors from the Gulf nation’s business travel and meetings sector, in place of an official Qatar Tourism Authority presence. The Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has announced it will not be taking part in this year’s event, to be held in Abu Dhabi in late March, choosing instead to withdraw while it restructures its international promotional plan.

Attention for the year will instead be placed on holding a roadshow aimed at Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which will focus more on the leisure market during Eid holidays.

Soha Moussa, Head of Promotions and Organizing Abroad Exhibitions for the Qatar Tourism Authority commented, “GIBTM remains an event that is very much a part of our plans for the future. At present we are seeing significant growth in the numbers of people coming to Qatar for business purposes and this was acknowledged at the recent World Travel Awards where the country was recognised as the World’s Leading Business Travel Destination. On this occasion we have decided that while we consider the long term direction of our exhibition programme, the investment will be better placed into attracting visitors into Qatar for leisure purposes. This will be addressed with a roadshow that we are planning for a little later in the year.”