Do you have five hours to burn during a stopover to Europe? Don’t waste them at the airport, get out and see Doha.
That’s essentially the message the country’s tourism leaders are pitching to travellers through a new complimentary transit visa, which gives travellers up to 96 hours to explore the capital city.
Launched earlier this month by Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), the transit visa is free for all nationalities with a stopover of five hours or more at Hamad International Airport.
There’s only three catches. The first, is that travellers can only apply for the visa once they have a confirmed ticket for a journey into Qatar and onwards.
The second, the ticket must be for a Qatar Airways-operated flight.
And the third, travellers must be holding a passport that is valid for a minimum of six months from the time of arrival in Qatar as well as a valid email.
Once an application is submitted online or via one of Qatar Airways’ offices, it can take up to seven days to receive approval and all visas are granted at the sole discretion of the Qatari Ministry of Interior.
Passengers than have up to 90 days from the date of issuance to use the visa and they must have a copy of the pre-approved transit visa at the time of boarding at their airport of origin, as well as upon arrival into Qatar.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said the most is part of turning the country and its capital into “a world-class tourist destination” and will give travellers the chance to explore “the country and its hospitality”.
Mr. Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer at QTA, added that the destination has seen “remarkable interest” in the new transit visa scheme and he expects interest to translate into a rise in visitor arrivals over the next few months.
“Visa facilitation is an important factor in increasing the attractiveness of a destination, and we encourage investors and tourism business owners to capitalise on the opportunities presented by this development to diversify Qatar’s tourism products and services.”
Hassan Al Ibrahim, QTA Chief Tourism Development Officer
To accommodate passengers requesting the transit visa, Qatar Airways has restructured its fares for international flights transiting through Hamad International Airport. This will allow passengers to have a free stopover in Doha without any additional charges to their ticket, either on the outbound or inbound journey.
However, passengers traveling from the GCC and Middle East on return tickets will be able to take a stopover in Doha on their outbound journey only without additional charges.
