|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES: 2020 Olympic bid could speed up Qatar's rail plans | French move on Qatar as World Cup momentum builds | Pictures: Stadium rebuild for 2014 FIFA World Cup
The World Cup will add 10% growth to the value of the region’s hospitality and tourism sectors, said Hassan al-Thawadi, Secretary general of Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee. He was addressing delegates at the Qatar Projects 2022 conference in Doha.
Al-Thawadi said the committee had studied previous global sporting events to provide a successful model for the 2022 World Cup, specifically the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Commenting on the Barcelona Olympics, Al-Thawadi said: “Between 1981 and 1987, for example, the number of tourist arrivals to Barcelona was fairly stagnant at around 700,000.
"Barcelona’s journey has been an extremely successful one, with the city now boasting one of the highest occupancy rates in Europe, with about seven million visitors each year.”
 |
Al-Thawadi said the aim of the 2022 World Cup was to bring sustainable social and economic benefit to the Middle East region as a whole.
In a reference to the unrest that his affected the region, Al-Thawadi pointed to the diversification of regional economies and job creation, with considerable benefits for small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Al-Thawadi then drew parallels between the Middle East and Africa in terms of their shared passion for football, and how the Qatar World Cup 2022 would bring the Middle East closer together.
Referring to the World Cup in South Africa, Al-Thawadi said: “This was very noticeable when Ghana was the only African team to qualify for the knock-out rounds.
"South Africans of all colours and creeds united with the entire African nation, and gave their full backing to the Ghanaian team. The World Cup was Africa presenting a unified face to the world.”
| Articles | |
| Companies | |
 |
Site Map
 |
 |
 |
 |
|  |
\
FEATURED COMMENT
Please click here to comment on this article