The executive regulations or bye-laws of the new tourism law will give judicial powers to the Qatar Tourism Authority ( QTA ) to monitor the tourism industry in the country, a senior QTA official has said.
QTA chairman Engineer Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi said that the executive regulations will be issued in eight months to help implement the new law. Several projects to develop the tourism industry will be implemented after the bye-laws are issued.
The tourism law issued in August last year has made a QTA licence mandatory for opening new hotels and other tourism facilities. The QTA has also been given the right to cancel the licence of any hotel or tourism facility found violating the law.
"The committee concerned is currently working on the bye-laws. It will give some QTA employees judicial powers. The new tourism strategy will encourage investment in the industrial sector and the bye-laws are necessary to implement this strategy," Al Mohannadi told Al Sharq.
He said the thrust of the new law is to encourage the private sector to invest in tourism industry.
"There is an emphasis on nature tourism and we are preserving several traditional spots in the country with this view. We are exploring all tourism spots, especially the islands. There is a plan to develop the islands in collaboration with the authorities responsible for development of the Doha Corniche," he added.
Sports tourism and conference tourism are also important as part of seasonal tourism that helps increase hotel occupancy. City tourism is another important segment that focuses on entertainment, heritage, culture, trade etc.
Al Mohannadi said QTA will set up a statistics section for tourism data like the number of visitors at different locations.
The Peninsula
14 February