DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is launching today its first domestic tourism survey to provide insights into domestic tourism activity and spending among residents.
Qatar University’s Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) will reach out to residents to survey spending patterns and insights into the domestic tourism industry.
The survey will be conducted on telephone targeting a statistically drawn sample of the resident population from SESRI’s calling centre.
It will be the first of four as part of a partnership between QTA and SESRI to understand and analyse sector-specific spending activities among residents. Data collection takes place from today until June 17.
Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer, QTA, said results will be fed into Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), a system approved by UN Statistical Commission to establish the economic impact of tourism on a country’s economy.
TSA development in Qatar is overseen by a cross-institutional committee, chaired by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, and includes representatives from QTA, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Finance. “Insights we receive from respondents will help define the impact of domestic tourism on the tourism economy. Such studies are a powerful tool to better monitor, plan, regulate, and develop a sustainable tourism sector in Qatar. We appreciate residents’ collaboration and call on them to respond freely and candidly,” he said.
The survey will support QTA’s partners in the private sector in efforts to understand resident activity patterns and levels of customer satisfaction and develop products and services accordingly.
A draft TSA estimated domestic tourism spending in 2013 at QR9.3bn, fed directly into Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon economy. Spending came from tourism-related activity in Qatar and travel outside Qatar on Qatar Airways. The survey will help refine estimates and provide details by industry sub-sector and fill in data gaps, such as the proportion of hotel revenue that can be attributed to domestic spending.
Information from the study will be confidential and results from the analysis of data will be presented as summary statistics so that no individual answers can be identified. The Peninsula
