Travellers who will be stopping over in Doha while flying with Qatar Airways are in for a treat this summer. Transit tourists are being offered a free night’s stay in a luxury hotel.

Some of the participating hotels include The Four Seasons, Marriott Marquis, Radisson Blu and Oryx Rotana. If travellers wish to stay for a second night, it would only cost them US$50.

This move is aimed at overcoming the struggles of attracting tourists in a down market. Officials hope that it would urge people to spend more money on shopping, tours and safaris since they won’t be paying for their hotel stay.

The details

To benefit from this, travellers will need to have their tickets booked by August 31st and have their stay by September 20th. It cannot be availed during public holidays, such as Eid.

SEE ALSO: Guide to sightseeing in Qatar

First and Business Class travellers will be able to choose a 5-star hotel while economy travellers can choose from 4-star hotels. The booking has to be done a week before travel.

Travellers will need to be transiting in Qatar for at least 12 hours. Transit visas can be obtained online.

Transit in Qatar

According to reports released by the government last year, seven out of every 10 travellers at Qatar’s airport were simply passing through without ever leaving the airport.

In an effort to change this, Qatar started offering free four-day transit visas. Consequently, compared to March 2016, the airport saw a 53 per cent increase in transit visitors.

SEE ALSO: Qatar tourist and transit visas

Tourism

The Qatar Tourism Authority has been oddly obscure about tourism data. There has been no official tourism numbers released to the public since summer 2016, when a year-on-year reduction in tourists was announced.

It’s unlikely there’s been much change, as hoteliers were recently urging action to be taken to preserve tourism in the country.