Qatar & Turkey to boost tourism cooperation

16/02/2018 06:12 AST

Qatari business leaders and the visiting members of a Turkish delegation headed by president of the Middle East Tourism and Travel Agencies Association (OTSAD) Hussain Arif yesterday held a meeting at Qatar Chamber headquarters. Both sides held discussions on enhancing cooperation in tourism with OTSAD.

Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar Al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman of Qatar Chamber (QC) received the members of the Turkish delegation headed by president OTSAD Hussain Arif.

The meeting reviewed ways to enhance bilateral relations, with special focus on boosting cooperation between Qatari and Turkish businessmen in the field of tourism and investment. QC’s Board Member Rashid Al Athbah was also present at the meeting.

The Turkish side invited the Chamber officials and Qatari businessmen to visit Turkey ant attend the inauguration of the world’s longest suspension bridge in Dardanelle Strait in March, 2018 in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The event will witness business meetings for exploring new areas of cooperation and increasing investments in both sides, he noted. He noted that Turkey attaches great importance to Qatar and highly welcomes Qatari tourists.

On his part, Al Kuwari said that the tourism sector is a very important sector for both countries, noting that bilateral relations in tourism achieved great leaps within the past years.

Number of Qataris visiting Turkey reached 46,000 tourists last year, he added, noting that Turkish and Qatari companies in the tourism sector are requested to come out with innovative ideas and new promotions, services and destinations to attract more tourists. Underlining the progress in tourism in Qatar, Al Kuwari said that it witnessed significant development, especially in the approach of the 2022 World Cup which will add more focus on Qatar worldwide.

The international tournament will enable world delegates, fans and audiences to learn more about Qatari touristic potentials. This will stimulates world tourists to visit Qatar, he added.

Dardanelle Strait is a narrow, natural strait and internationally-significant waterway in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Europe and Asia, and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey.

One of the world’s narrowest straits used for international navigation, the Dardanelles connects the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, while also allowing passage to the Black Sea by extension via the Bosphorus. The Dardanelles is 61km (38 miles) long, and 1.2 to 6km wide, averaging 55 metres deep with a maximum depth of 103 metres at its narrowest point abreast the city of Çanakkale.

The Peninsula