Come visit us, Qatar urges

DOHA, Qatar - Tiny, energy-rich Qatar unveiled an ambitious $15-billion plan Saturday to reinvent itself into a premier tourist destination attracting more than 1-million visitors a year by 2010.

At first glance, the vision appears overambitious: Sweltering heat and humidity make outdoors impossible in summer, the gulf waters that lap Qatar's unattractive beaches are too warm for comfort on hot days, and of its 800,000 inhabitants, only 25 percent are citizens.

But Qatar is hoping for a transformation similar to that of Dubai in the nearby United Arab Emirates, which has grown from a desert backwater into the Gulf's commercial hub and prime tourist destination.

Qatar "will be investing $15-billion into new tourism infrastructure, in what represents one of the largest investments in tourism facilities in this region," said Akbar Al Baker, head of the Qatar Tourism Authority and Qatar Airways.

"We expect tourism growth to more than double in the next six years from the 400,000 visitors that presently visit Qatar, to more than 1-million tourists in 2010," Al Baker said as he unveiled the plan at the two-day Global Travel and Tourism Summit that opened Saturday in Doha.

He said most money will come from the government of Qatar, which is fabulously wealthy. Qataris, who number less than 300,000 and are served by an army of expatriate workers twice that size, have the highest gross domestic product per capita in the world.

Qatar's relatively small oil reserves of about 5-billion barrels are expected to last only 10-15 years. But its gas reserves are the world's third-largest, the equivalent of about 85-billion barrels of oil and enough to guarantee future prosperity.

According to the master plan, self-contained "lifestyle cities" with names like Pearl of the Gulf and complete with hotels, villas and shopping malls will be ready for occupancy in September 2006.

New beach and island resorts, eight new four- and five-star hotels, sports facilities, theme parks, an Education City and a $5-billion airport being built by U.S. giant Bechtel in time for the for the 2006 Asian games are part of the plan.

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