After months of turbulence across regional airspace, Qatar's tourism sector says the Gulf state is now open for business once again.
In an interview with Euronews, Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mawlawi, CEO of Visit Qatar, said the country faced one of its most difficult periods in recent history, but worked closely with embassies, airlines and tourism partners to support stranded travellers and restore confidence in a destination that welcomed five million visitors in 2025.
During the early stages of the regional conflict, more than 12,000 international visitors, including 8,000 transiting travellers, were in the country – all of whom needed to be repatriated.
At Doha’s cruise port, around 5,000 cruise passengers and crew were also impacted due to the Strait of Hormuz being closed. Celestyal Cruises’ Celestyal Journey and TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 5 both safely departed the Arabian Gulf in mid-April.
“We've been through a difficult time,” Al-Mawlawi told Euronews. “I'll be very honest with you, it was a difficult time that we had never been through before. But I always remind myself of the period of COVID where we passed through a very difficult time, but we passed it stronger than before, more resilience.”
