UAE tourism to get boost from Qatar World Cup

One of the benefits from the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar will be a surge in tourism to the UAE as well as innovation in technologies. "Qatar is not well-known in the west while Dubai and Abu Dhabi have marketed themselves aggressively... so I'm not convinced they will stay in Qatar," said Dr Sean Ennis who specialises in sports marketing at the University of Strathclyde Business School. "[Instead] they will come to Dubai and fly in for the games and fly back." Ennis was recently at the business school's Dubai campus to mark the 40th anniversary of the Marketing Department with students, alumni and faculty. Other experts, who teach in Scotland and Dubai, discussed marketing in the Middle East and also shed light on sports marketing in light of Qatar 2022 and multicultural consumers. "I think you will find people making hotel arrangements in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and I can see cruise liners offering packages," said Ennis. New innovations will also be a benefit to Qatar and the region. "If you look at Qatar's presentation bid, it is focused on technology," said Ennis, who added that Qatar has the challenge of building stadia that are energy-efficient and well air-conditioned. "The technology we will see will be mindboggling, I think." The hospitality giant Jumeirah Group is already gearing up for the event though it is still a long way out, said Piers Schreiber, its vice-president of corporate communications and public affairs. He spoke at the Strathclyde marketing event as an alumnus. "Certainly our chairman [Gerald Lawless] has said the government of Qatar will benefit and it will help put the region on the map in the broader sense," said Schreiber. "So people can look at being able to stay in Dubai or Qatar and be able to access the action." Though the Jumeirah Group does not have a hotel in Qatar yet, they expect to have one in Doha by the time the event takes place. "It's in our development pipeline," said Schreiber. From / Gulf News