Ibrahim Abu Qamar, managing director of the owning company of the InterContinental hotel and resort, said Qatar has a lot to offer to tourists who know what they want. He added that many European tourists, especially Germans, have already discovered Qatar and are coming in droves. The cost to tourists is at least 35 percent less than any other Arab country, he noted. Jordanians number 21,000 here in Qatar, making them one of the largest expatriate communities, and they definitely have a great reputation among the business owners, Abu Qamar said. Qatar wants to emphasize the importance of inter-Arab tourism as well, said Ibrahim Al Sayyed, a senior tourism writer at Al Sharq newspaper in Doha.
Tourism is the harbinger of good relations among Arab countries.
Tourism can mend the damage that politics sometimes brings into inter-Arab relations. He said that a planned GCC unified visa and an easier process for issuing tourist visas to Arab nationals will give a much-needed boost to the budding tourism sector in Qatar. Qatar National Hotels Co. Petra Travel and Tourism Co Managing Partner Wael Kawar said Jordan and Qatar can do a lot in the area of tourism. More than 30,000 Qataris visited Jordan last year, according to official figures. Qatar, according to Kawar, can offer a lot of value to Jordanian tourists and foreigners residing in Qatar.