Qatar unprepared for World Cup air traffic crush, report says
Doha, July 22, 2017
Qatar is unprepared to cope with a mass influx of spectators arriving from around the world due to the Qatar World Cup, according to a local newspaper.
Qatar’s airport handling an increase in traffic from 15.5 million to 25 million visitors, with the number of passengers coming from other countries more than doubling, according to al Watan.
The newspaper said the World Cup’s official Twitter account has already received 15 million Twitter followers, and the country is expected to have more than 80 million visitors by October.
The Doha Media City also announced the launch of its QQ page on Facebook, a mobile app, and website.
The Doha Football Association (QFA) said last month that it will spend US$500 million on infrastructure, education and medical facilities to accommodate the growing number of visitors in Doha.
The official said the number of Qatari tickets was expected to reach 4 million.
Last month, Qatar and the UAE were reported to be the world leaders in terms of new visitors with more than 1.5 million arriving at the Al Doha Stadium, the largest indoor soccer stadium in the Middle East.
Over 5,000 people went to the stadium to watch the opening ceremony of the World Cup, including over 2,000 Qatari, with some travelling from as far as Australia.
On the day Qatar hosted the World Cup, some 5,000 people from other countries and territories – from the United States to the UK – also travelled to Doha, the capital, to watch the opening ceremony.
To accommodate the expected influx of visitors, the airport is investing US$20 million in new facilities to cope.
Al Watan quoted a Qatari official as saying the Qatar Airports Authority was prepared for the World Cup, but that there was a question about whether the country could cope with the crowds.
“Qatar isn’t ready for the World Cup, we can’t accommodate them,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying. “Qatar is on the way up, it still has a way to go [before it is on top], so there is a question about how they accept the tourists.”
The official told the news agency that the Q