Qatar is a predominant MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) destination for Germany, a senior official from FVW Mediengruppe, Germany’s leading travel industry media group, said in Doha yesterday. “The excellent facilities in the relevant areas and convenient air links contribute towards Qatar’s advantage,” said Matthias Schulz, sales director, of the group with more than four decades of expertise in tourism. FVW Mediengruppe, which publishes Germany’s No 1 travel trade magazine and a wide range of publications, is the media partner of Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) in Germany. QTA is hosting a delegation of about 40 key decision makers from the German travel trade for a three-day tour of Qatar in the last week of this month and a MICE workshop on 29th. “This is a first of its kind event in the country and the QTA intends to show the German delegation what Qatar can offer and enable them to market the destination effectively,” announced Soha Moussa, head of promotions and organising abroad exhibitions. Schulz pointed out that Germany is the top tourism spender in Europe and Qatar’s sunny beaches could serve as a definite attraction for leisure tourists as well. Qatar should look out to Germany as it is the most prosperous economy in Europe with the lowest national deficit, inflation rate and unemployment, and highest GDP and disposable income. “Germans have 30 work days off every year, they opt for Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and other international destinations and book up to six months ahead,” Schulz said. A Commerzbank study on projected German travel spending in 2011, has predicted significant growth with a total exceeding the 2008 record-breaking year by more than 1bn euro. Travel agents are the most important factor in recommending a destination and Germany has more travel agencies than any other country, 10,370 in 2010 and revenue of 20.2bn euro. “It is a 45bn euro travel market and within Europe, Germans do more travel trips with as much as 64% for MICE events, and more than 50% of MICE planners plan international events,” he revealed. During the upcoming tour and workshop, the German travel trade and QTA will discuss and plan how to sell Qatar as a MICE destination. “They will visit museums, Souq Waqif, Katara, Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha Exhibition Centre, Doha Golf Club, The Pearl Qatar and hold site inspections of a number of leading hotels,” Moussa explained.FVW Mediengruppe has organised similar workshops for Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and all these destinations witnessed increasing number of travellers, Schulz claimed. QTA’s abroad exhibitions co-ordinator Amna G al-Mohannadi was also present on the occasion. Gulf Times

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