In a bid to increase awareness of Qatar’s tourism offering among international travel trade, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has hosted numerous mega familiarization visits for travel professionals, including tour operators, travel agents and travel media from various global markets.
So far this year, 350 travel professionals from the US, Italy, Finland, and the UK visited Qatar on ‘mega-fam trips’, ensuring they receive 'a first-hand and authentic destination' experience.
The Finnish group visited Qatar during the annual congress for the Association of Finnish Travel Agents (AFTA), bringing 100 business and leisure travel agents and tour operators to the country.    
These initiatives have evolved from extensive promotional efforts during 2016, which saw QTA hold 76 workshops and roadshows in key priority markets.
"After completing an extensive outreach programme in 2016, we are delighted to see even greater interest in Qatar as a tourist destination, with hundreds of travel professionals coming to us, and experiencing the country’s authentic tourism offering first hand," QTA’s chief tourism development officer Hassan al-Ibrahim said.
"We were particularly pleased to receive a request from AFTA, as we have not targeted Finland previously. This shows that the prominence of the Qatar destination brand is resonating in secondary markets, and travelers from an increasing number of countries are expressing curiosity about what Qatar offers," he noted.
Al-Ibrahim added that QTA is focusing on promoting new policy developments which make visiting Qatar easier. This includes the introduction of the free 96-hour transit visa, which is available to passengers travelling on Qatar Airways and transiting through Hamad International Airport for a minimum of 5 hours.
During the final quarter of 2017, QTA will host 40 prominent tour operators, travel agents and media from Germany, along with media and planners specializing in Meetings, incentives, Conferencing, and Exhibitions tourism from various key global markets.
Engaging with travel trade helps increase visitor interest in Qatar by increasing the number of tour operators that sell holiday packages to the country. In 2016, the number of tour operators selling Qatar to travelers increased by 21.6%. In the same year, QTA opened three representative offices abroad, in Italy, the US and Turkey. 
The offices joined others in QTA’s international network, in France, the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia and South East Asia.

Source: QNA