Qatar is getting ready to welcome more than a million international football fans for the FIFA World Cup 2022 by preparing to open three new five-star hotels in the run-up to the event.
New hotels are opening their doors in Qatar in September and October, less than 100 days before spectators swarm to the area for the month-long sporting event, which is set to kick off on Nov. 20.
The Wyndham Grand Doha West Bay Beach, a 278-room resort near Doha Corniche, and the St. Regis Marsa Arabia Island on the Pearl-Qatar, a resort spanning an entire island, will both open on Oct. 1.
A third hotel, the Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha, will open in October near Hamad International Airport.
A little more than half of Qatar’s population, or about 1.2 million fans, are anticipated to visit the nation during the event, but finding enough lodging for the teams, fans, and tournament staff has proven to be a major challenge for Qatar. To help with the accommodation shortage, organizers have tried everything from cruise ships to desert camps.
The new hotels, according to Berthold Trenkel, chief operating officer of Qatar Tourism, are consistent with the nation’s plans to grow its hospitality sector to meet the country’s ambitious goal of attracting more than six million foreign visitors annually by 2030.
Fans from 31 other countries are anticipated to visit the country for the FIFA World Cup. FIFA announced last month that 2.45 million of the three million available tickets for the World Cup in Doha in November have already been purchased by soccer fans.
