Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism Authority have signed an agreement with VFS Global – leading provider of visa processing services. The agreement paves the way for an efficient and transparent tourist visa application system that caters to travellers from around the world looking to visit Qatar.

Hamad International Airport has served a record 8.8 million passengers during the first quarter of 2016, making it the busiest quarter for the airport since its opening in May 2014. This represents a 20 per cent increase from the number of passengers that travelled through the airport during the first quarter of 2015. In detail, HIA had 8,867,971 passengers pass through its gates during the first quarter of 2016, with a record 3,089,826 passengers departing, arriving and transiting in January which is an unsurpassed figure for a single month for the airport.

Qatar’s tourism and hospitality industry is building momentum as it enters the second half of the decade, with an ambitious target of four million visitors by 2020, supported by US$40-45 billion worth of sector investment under the country’s National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 plan. The Gulf state returns to ATM this year to showcase its expanding hotel and tourism infrastructure pipeline following a successful 2015 with visitor numbers in the first nine months of 2014 growing to reach 2.2 million in quarter three, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.7 per cent, and booming air connectivity which saw Hamad International Airport exceed forecasted capacity of 30 million passengers last year.

Following the unveiling of the Qatar Destination Brand at the World Travel Market in London, Qatar Tourism Authority has launched the initial sub-brand: Qatar Business Events. The brand was unveiled at IBTM World, the most highly attended global meetings, incentives, conferences and events expo specific to business trade, held annually in Barcelona.

Qatar Tourism Authority is to step up its promotional activity in the UK and has confirmed that a large-scale representation from Qatar’s tourism sector will take part in the World Travel Market. The UK already ranks as Qatar’s largest European visitor source market by a substantial margin, accounting for more than 30 per cent of all visitors from the region.

Qatar is seeking to show its commitment to safe, healthy and convenient food at Expo Milan 2015. Here Breaking Travel News editor Chris O’Toole takes to pavilion director Mohammed Saeed Al-Bloshi about the destination’s committed to building a culture of healthy living through the promotion of scientific research into the responsible management of water and the precious resources of its land.