Qatar's New Structure Following the World Cup
By: Eman El-Ajlouni / Arab America Contributing Writer
For the first time, the world witnessed an Arab country hosting the World Cup on 20, November 2022, with Qatar hosting it in a small country with a population of 3 million. This hosting had a great resonance in the world, and the world did not stop admiring this version of the World Cup. But the question remains, what are the revenues/ benefits of Qatar after this hosting?
Due to its desire to strengthen its position as a tourist, investment, and commercial destination for its post-World Cup plan, Qatar spent about 220 billion dollars preparing to host the World Cup. This included developing its infrastructure and outfitting its facilities. However, investing this enormous sum was not just for World Cup preparations. In fact, it was a component of the nation’s strategy and the foundation for the Qatar National Vision for 2030, which was also the year that Qatar hosted the World Cup. Many individuals will learn more about Qatar through print media, radio, and television networks and postings made on social media by fans, competitors, and journalists in Qatar, claims Dr. Suhail Mahmoud, a political analyst based in Chapel, North Carolina.
A marketing launchpad
Doha sees the World Cup being held on its turf as much more than just a sporting event, and it will serve as a huge “marketing launchpad” for Qatar in the near and far future when it ends, a Qatari government source told Reuters. According to Karen Young, a political economist at The Middle East Institute in Washington, it is a great marketing concept that promotes the slogan “Build and they will come” for tourism and economic development. This phrase implies that marketing opportunities, capital, business initiatives, and tourism momentum always increase with the provision of better infrastructure and higher-quality facilities.
Global statistics predict that Qatar’s economic growth rate will reach 4.9%, supported and fueled by a number of fundamental causes, chief among them the country’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the ongoing increase in gas prices. According to economist Hossam Ayesh, this tournament promoted significant investments in infrastructure, including roads, trains, hotels, airports, and planes, as well as the construction of stadiums in Qatar, some of which may be engineering marvels. There will be effects on commerce in Qatar and employees in many economic sectors, and Qatar will become a symbol for investments in sports and other ventures. Holding the competition has paved a tough road for others to follow.
Foreign investments
The country’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup opened investors’ eyes to gas, the world’s top exporter of clean energy, according to data from the Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation. Given the welcoming investment environment, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, chairman of the Qatar Chamber, predicted that the 2022 World Cup would strengthen Qatar’s position as a top international location for business and investment. He also predicted that the nation’s non-oil-related industries would grow by 2.8% to 4.7% this year.
The “Invest Qatar Portal” is a digital platform that connects overseas investors to business prospects and enables corporate growth in the country of Qatar. The Investment Promotion Agency introduced it as part of its initiatives to promote investment in the nation. Due to the incredible expectations regarding the economy and investment in the State of Qatar this year, Qatar was placed number one in the list of the world’s greatest foreign direct investment destinations for the year 2023, published by the “FDI Intelligence” agency. The country’s GDP has expanded quickly from $125.12 billion in 2010 to $237.79 billion in 2022. Vital non-hydrocarbon industries, including commerce, construction, and transportation, are anticipated to fuel this expansion until the year 2023.
Tourism
The Qatar Tourism Authority has released a series of goals and initiatives for 2023 as part of a strategy to strengthen Qatar’s reputation as a top travel destination by bringing in 6 million tourists each year and raising the sector’s contribution to the GDP to 12% by 2030, The marketing of Qatar tourism starts about three weeks after the Qatar World Cup 2022, which established Qatar as a significant travel destination after being aired to billions of people globally and acting as the nation’s most outstanding tourism promotion campaign.
In addition to numerous beaches, gardens, hotels, and different tourist resorts, the country now has a number of alluring tourist attractions, including Souq Waqif, Katara, Pearl Island, and the old port of Doha. It also has modern road and transportation networks, as well as airlines that fly to the majority of global destinations. The world and the country of Qatar benefit from the gift of stability and security. highlighting the fact that Qatar was heavily promoted by the media, social networking sites, and the thousands of TV stations that covered this important event and that many viewers were compelled to watch it in person after doing so.
Returns of the Qatar World Cup
It has become clear that the enormous amounts of money that Doha invested in World Cup-related projects will allow the city to establish itself as a top international investment and tourist hub and expand its non-oil economy significantly. The FIFA World Cup that took place in Qatar will allow Doha’s economy to rebound for many years to come, particularly in terms of tourism and foreign investment.
The revenues of the Qatar World Cup, the highest in the history of the World Cup tournaments, were estimated at $17 billion, which is various immediate and future revenues. Qatar’s economy is anticipated to expand by 3.4% in 2022 and 2023 due to the World Cup’s growth, which will strengthen Qatar’s place on the world tourist map. The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) estimated that approximately 5 billion people watched World Cup matches worldwide, and it’s possible that approximately 40 million people want to visit the country after the competition. All of this contributes to the increase in the volume of financial revenues linked to Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup.
According to the government, World Cup-related tourism spending and other economic activities will raise the nation’s gross domestic product by the equivalent of 1.5%. These numbers and the expectations of international economic institutions drove the Qatari government to work hard to turn the country into a regional commercial powerhouse and even increase the number of tourists arriving annually to 6 million by 2030.
Conclusion
Qatar has achieved success on multiple levels, such as economic, tourism, political, cultural, etc. And for whom its sponsorship of this event was not just a regular hosting of the World Cup, Qatar showed itself to the world in a distinctive way and chronicled this event in a prominent and distinguished way that is not only limited to the sports aspect.
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