- Tell us your story. What is Discover Qatar?
Discover Qatar is the Destination Management Company of Qatar Airways and a proud partner of Qatar Tourism. With an outstanding and comprehensive selection of hotels, excursions, transfers and activities, Discover Qatar is perfectly positioned to create an ideal stopover or vacation programme in Qatar. Our goal is to continue advancing Qatar as a premium tourist destination.
- What makes Discover Qatar unique for youth and student travel?
Discover Qatar offers various unique tours that highlight Qatar’s diverse experiences, ranging from a focus on art and history, natural landscapes, urban escapades, as well as specially-designed tours to showcase Qatar’s top-tier educational institutions. These tours are custom-made for school and college students from across the globe and present an exceptional opportunity to holistically experience Qatar’s premier academic ecosystem while immersing guests in the culture of the country. The programmes of Qatar Education Tours broaden the horizons far beyond the textbook by exposing students to the best of culture, art, and history abroad. Working closely with educators, we have designed each programme to bring classroom studies to life through interactive learning experiences and immersive activities. Through these tours, students’ knowledge and global perspective grows, along with their confidence and social skills.
- What is your favourite success story from your organisation?
Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup™ in 2022. This historic event marks the first time the FIFA World Cup™ was held in the Middle East, as well as the first time it took place in November and December.
Discover Qatar gave football fans the chance to enjoy a unique experience during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ by offering visitors and residents stadium transfers, transportation solutions, and a hand-picked selection of our best tours and excursions. We also provided ground service arrangements for several high-profile partners working alongside the Supreme Committee, FIFA, and Qatar Airways.
Qatar is also host to many prestigious sporting events, including world-class football tournaments, tennis opens, golf competitions and MotoGP Grand Prix.
- What can we expect to see from Discover Qatar in the future?
With a focus on furthering educational tourism in Qatar, Discover Qatar’s tours of educational institutions will soon include more subject specialties such as architecture, art and culture, sports, fashion and design, with the goal of stimulating learning for students of all ages. Bringing learning curriculums to life, these tours will help students develop problem-solving skills, improve critical thinking, broaden their worldview, and learn through a variety of custom-designed workshops, activities and interactive and experiential sessions.
- Which trends do you see in educational and active youth travel?
Youth travel is set to increase at very healthy rate after two years of global slowdown. The concept of “learning beyond classroom” is widely accepted and put in practise by institutions around the world.
USA is expected to be a major contributor to education travel, owing to its leading educational facilities, strong ecosystem for educational tourism, and strong provision for quality learning and research. Demographically, students aged 18-23 will significantly contribute to youth and education travel.
Educational institutions in the Indian subcontinent offer foreign internships for one week to three weeks that provide opportunities to explore career opportunities. This will be a trend in coming years and contribute exponentially to the growth of youth travel. Rising demand for new specialised courses, increasing government initiative to boost tourism, and growing interest in experiencing different cultures are also key factors that will drive growth of youth travel.
- How do you work to ensure the health and safety of young travellers involved with Discover Qatar?
Considering the safety of its customers, Discover Qatar heeds all precautions when scheduling, planning and mapping out educational tours. Its air-conditioned coaches are pre-checked before every tour. Drivers and tour guides are also assessed and ensured that they are multilingual and experienced to address any potential challenges.
Discover Qatar operates in one of the safest landscapes in the world. Qatar has earned the number one rank for “Safest Country in the World” on the Numbeo Crime Index, for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, which means the health and safety of our customers is always considered when planning each point of the tour – from arrival to departure.
- What was your motivation to join WYSE Travel Confederation?
WYSE Travel Confederation represents the global youth travel industry as a whole and includes professionals from different sectors of the industry, particularly those associated with youth and education travel. The primary objective behind joining WYSE Confederation was to develop a network for exploring opportunities that help promote education tours in Qatar, furthering its global reach.
8. What is an industry challenge your organisation is facing currently?
Qatar is the newest destination to be featured in the educational and student travel market. There is a need to reach audiences and convey Qatar’s excellent resources that cater to student and youth travel across different subjects. Beyond its position as a leading transit destination, Qatar offers countless opportunities to learn and grow in different capacities.