Officials declare the winner at the raffle draw on the concluding day of Shop Qatar festival, yesterday. Pic Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
The inaugural Shop Qatar festival yesterday witnessed a stunning and thrilling finale featuring diverse live performances and the much anticipated megadraw in which 15 winners won big cash prizes including a QR1m jackpot prize.
The month-long celebration and showcase of the best Qatar has to offer in retail and entertainment drew its curtain to a close during the colourful show last night held at the Mall of Qatar with hundreds in attendance.
The Mall of Qatar's Oasis saw high-tech staging of spectacular performances including dance and song items by artistes garbed in colourful costumes.
The traditional ardha and dabke dances were equally enjoyed by the audience, as well as the free concert by Iraqi singing sensation Majed Al Muhandes which was met with thuderous applause from adoring fans during the later part of the show which lasted for more than two hours.
On its first edition, Shop Qatar offered something for all residents and visitors, including shopping promotions, outdoor activities, live entertainment, beauty and fashion events, musical performances and comedy acts. Over QR4m were given away in cash prizes during the weekly raffle draws at the month-long festival which ran from January 7 to February 7 and saw the participation of ten retail partners.
Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) introduced the annual shopping festival following the notable recent growth of Qatar’s retail sector, matched by its strong contribution to tourism spending. According to the draft Tourism Satellite Account, shopping represented a bigger portion of tourism spending in 2014 than hotel bookings or F&B, generating QR6bn.
Rashed AlQurese, QTA’s Chief Marketing and Promotion Officer, said: “We were very pleased to see the collaborative spirit shown from the various private and public sector partners who worked together to enrich the festival’s offering and provide a platform for authentic Qatari innovations. I am confident that together we can continue to expand this festival in the years to come and reinforce Qatar’s position as a destination of choice for shoppers and families.”
He added: “The success of Shop Qatar has given us a great start for 2017, and we look forward to maintaining this momentum with the eighth edition of the Qatar International Food Festival which will take place later this quarter.”
Not only did Shop Qatar succeed in showcasing the country’s burgeoning retail sector, it also achieved its goal in supporting local small and medium-sized businesses through dozens of pop-shops in malls as well as Bedaya-supported Qatari entrepreneurs engaged in the food sector, which QTA hopes to be sustained in the coming editions of the festival.
The shopping festival’s varied live entertainmet offerings were warmly welcomed by both residents and tourists including concerts by well-known Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi and the acclaimed Siwar youth choir at Mall of Qatar as well as the show by famous Arab singer Hussain Al Jassmi, the three-day Doha Comedy Festival winter edition and the staging of one of the longest running Broadway musical Cats at the Qatar National Convention Center.
