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Festivals spur tourist arrivals

THE country has burst into a festive spirit as some of the prime tourist destinations in the country unwrapped

their annual recreational extravaganza.

The Spring Festival running until February 3, opened at Souq Waqif and Souq Al Wakrah, bringing in scores of families to join the fun and entertainment activities.

The festival offers musical shows, parades, street perform-ances, acrobatics, games and art activities at various locations in popular tourist hubs. Girls clad in traditional outfit complete with the 'bukhnuq,' the black head gear embroidered in gold, and boys in their white 'thoub' musing over marbles won much admiration from the visitors. The girls sang and moved in tune to the old music while the boys

kept hoop rolling along the Souq Al Wakrah walkway.

Stilt walkers in fancy cos-tumes, clowns, acrobats and traditional Khaleeji folkloric troupes entertained people from various age groups with per-formances at both the souqs. The alleys and walkways were filled with visitors taking videos and photos of the stilt walkers and performers passing by in regu-lar intervals.

An operetta on life in Qatar before the discovery of oil and gas was showcased at the beach area of Souq Al Wakrah. The operetta presented by Director Faisal Al Tamimi with a group of Qatari actors focused on pearl diving. It showed the horrors of the sea, which the ancestors had to face while pearl diving. The event also featured traditional singing bands.

The venue also hosts a number of exhibitions and popu-lar games on the walkway. A kids play area, featuring a number of recreational activities, has also been put up near the parking area at the Souq Al Wakrah. The Souq Al Wakrah venue also hosts ani-mal show. Added to this, pony and horse rides are on offer for young visitors. Camels and horses dressed in traditional gear are also an added attraction at Souq Al Wakrah.

Traditional dances, acrobats and clowns spurred the activi-ties at Souq Waqif. The venue also hosts several events, though, the activities in both the places as part of the festival are entirely different in order to give people more options.

One of the festival offerings

at Souq Waqif includes Kingdom of Snakes at the Al Rayyan The-atre. The ticketed show that tells the story of a princess who gets kidnapped, will run until the end

of the festival. Adding excite-ment to the Spring Festival, Souq Al Wakrah had elaborate fire-works for the first time.

Spring Festival opens at Souq Waqif and Souq Al Wakrah

Pics: Abdul Basit, Baher Amin

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ACTING MANAGING EDITORMohammed Salim Mohamed

SUPPLEMENT COORDINATORAhmed Eltigani Idris

CHAIRMANSheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDr. Khalid Mubarak Al-Shafi

IMAGE PROCESSINGMohd Sajad Sahir

DESIGNAbraham Augusthy

PRODUCTIONViswanath Sarma

THE fourth Katara Winter Festival is attracting hun-dreds of visitors to Katara Esplanade to watch street

performers and traditional shows as well as participate in games and workshops. The fes-tival which ends today offers a diverse array of events and activities which combine edu-cation and entertainment catered to all types of audience.

Many people including families thronged the festival taking advantage of the pleasant weather as they spend their free time as the festival coincides with schools’ Spring break.

Children took part in activities organised by the Childhood Cultural Center comprising a range of educational programmes and interactive competitions on the history of Qatar and games such as giant board games and crossword puzzles.

The Qatar Heritage and Identity Center provided a range of educational and awareness activities concerning Qatari heritage and national identity, as well as theatrical presentations, lectures and programs for the winter season. Environmental awareness and appreciation was also a main element of the programme with children coming to know the different plants and flowers

native to the country and their benefits.

Acrobatic performances, ice sculpture and magic tricks also proved a crowd pleaser at the festival. Visitors also took photos at a colourful mini-flower garden which contained ornamental plants used in landscaping, which was set up by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti said: “The Winter Festival in Katara offers a diverse array of events, a blend of educational programs and entertaining performances that are guaranteed to enthrall Katara’s visitors.

“Aside from these,

numerous workshops and activities devoted to children will allow them to experience exciting moments, along with their family and friends. In addition, the launch of the Winter Festival at this time of the year, coincides with the schools’ spring break, providing our children an opportunity to invest their free time in activities that are both meaningful and useful.”

The head of the festival organizing committee, Abdulrahman Al-Tamimi, said:“The fourth edition of the festival, coupled with the serenely beautiful setting of Katara, offers an atmosphere for people from all walks of life to relax and enjoy the

ambiance.”“The launch of the Winter

Festival will coincide with the inauguration of the Arabian Oud Festival, a new initiative in Katara. To be conducted on the festival’s sidelines, the Arabian Oud Festival will entail an exhibition that will display Arabian scents, explaining the specific history, literature, folklore and tradition associated with oud fragrances,” Al-Tamimi revealed.

W h i l e A l - G a n n a s Association has organised an interactive exhibition and workshop on falconry and Saluki, Katara Souq has put up a display of local antiques and traditional food. The organizers

of Al-Galayel Championship also hosts an exhibition showcasing collectables and equipment from previous championships. In addition, Bin Muftah Medical Centre presented an informative session on preventing winter diseases.

The Katara Festival for Arabian Atyab, a new initiative i n K a t a r a l a u n c h e d simultaneously with the Winter Festival also draws a huge number of visitors interested on Arabian perfumes. The festival, which runs until February 12, features Arabian scents and the history, literature, folklore and tradition associated with oud fragrances.

Visitors throng fourth Katara Winter Festival

Raynald C Rivera The Peninsula

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has successfully kicked off the year with the first ever edition of Shop Qatar festival aimed at

cementing a strong position for Qatar as a major shopping destination in the Gulf region.

Shop Qatar is another valuable addition to the country’s rich calendar of annual festivals and tourism events, which have witnessed steady growth over the past few years. In its inaugural edition, the month-long festival also aims to introduce and promote Qatar’s retail and entertainment offering, and celebrate it with residents and visitors.

Qatar’s retail sector is burgeoning with the opening of new malls, one of which is Mall of Qatar- currently the country’s biggest and one of the par-ticipants in the festival. The festival is a timely initiative as more malls are slated to open across the country in the coming years adding on to the diverse retail options for domestic and regional visitors.

Under the slogan ‘A Brand New Tradition’, the festival, which runs until February 7, offers residents and visitors access to popular brands and local designer products in ten retail partners including Mall of Qatar, Ezdan Mall, Hyatt Plaza, Al Khor Mall, Lagoona Mall, Gulf Mall, Landmark, Dar Al Salam Mall, The Gate Mall and The Pearl-Qatar.

Shop Qatar: Showcasing the best

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Promoting Qatar as major shopping destination“In its first edition, Shop Qatar

showcases the best of what Qatar has to offer in terms of retail and entertainment. In all of our plans, we ensure tourism events are rooted in Qatari heritage, and we also strive to support community initiatives by offering them a pop-ular platform through QTA festivals to reach a broader audi-ence,” said Saif Al Kuwari, Director of PR and Communication at QTA.

The second week of the fes-tival saw sales of more than QR8.5m, exceeding the first week which saw more than QR4.3m of spending. The second week also saw over 42,000 vouchers entered in the raffle draw in which 15 winners won a total of QR810,000. The festival has already given away QR1.62m in cash prizes to 30 lucky winners in the first two weeks.

BIG DISCOUNTS AND PRIZES

With up to 50 percent in dis-counts offered by various shops at ten participating malls, the fes-tival has been drawing shoppers in increasing numbers every week. In addition to reduction in prices, for every QR200 spent, shoppers get a chance to win cash prizes totaling to QR4m, which includes a jackpot prize of QR1m.

Raffle draws are held every Thursday of the week to deter-mine the winners. A total of QR810,000 in cash prizes are distributed to 15 winners every raffle draw in the first three weeks of the festival ranging from QR10,000 to QR300,000. The fourth and final raffle draw will see QR1.57m given away to 15 winners.

More prizes are in store for shoppers in the coming weeks and excitement is building as the final week approaches when one shopper becomes a millionaire on the grand raffle draw to be held on February 7.

BOOST FOR LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS

The festival does not only focus on already known brands in major malls but also places strong thrust on providing much needed support to Qatari entre-preneurs through pop-up shops.

Thirty stalls have been installed in five of the ten part-ner malls to showcase the various products of local entre-preneurs and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as part of QTA’s efforts toward the development of local industries and brands.

Ten pop-up shops are spread across the ground floor of the newly opened Mall of Qatar, while Ezdan Mall, Landmark Mall, The Gate Mall and Lagoona Mall have five pop-up shops each maximizing the exposure of the emerging local brands.

Partnering with Qatar Devel-opment Bank (QDB) along with Bedaya Centre for Entrepreneur and Career Development and Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC), QTA has invited over 30

Qatari entrepreneurs and SMEs to have the opportunity to directly sell their products to the market.

“Our partnership with QDB connects entrepreneurs with QTA’s popular festivals allowing them to broaden their market access and visibility while enrich-ing the festival’s offering. This is just one of several initiatives through which we capitalise on QTA’s partnership with QDB to foster a sustainable tourism sec-tor that reflects our nation’s needs and culture,” said Hassan Al-Ibra-him, Chief Tourism Development Officer at QTA.

“Participating in the festival through pop-up shops provides local entrepreneurs and SMEs more access to the market by being able to sell directly and obtaining feedback first hand from the shoppers who gain access to authentic Qatari prod-ucts produced by Qatari SMEs,” said Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer of QDB.

The pop-up shops offer a wide variety of consumer goods from apparel, kids’ fashion, aba-yas and jewellery to accessories, art, furniture and chocolates. “We are honoured to be chosen as one of the participants in Shop Qatar Festival. QTA is doing a great job giving full support to us entrepreneurs and small Qatari businesses in this festival and other events it organises,” said Maryam Al Sulaiti of Kaafe Choc-olatier, one of the participating

entrepreneurs.While the pop-up shops are

hoped to be a regular feature of Shop Qatar, participating SMEs will still have opportunity to be part of other festivals that QTA will be organizing in the future, stressed Al Ibrahim.

ENHANCING TOURISM OFFERING

As an important tourist activ-ity, shopping is a vital element of tourism and Shop Qatar is expected to enhance regional tourism by introducing visitors to the various shopping options available in the country.

Qatar’s retail sector has been vibrant with the launch of a number of malls in recent years and the future is looking up with more shopping centres being built across the country.

To offer tourists the chance to conveniently travel, stay and shop in Qatar, QTA has partnered with Qatar Airways and popular hotel booking platforms to offer discounted air travel and tourist accommodation packages.

Qatar Airways is offering 25 percent discount on flights to Qatar from within the GCC region booked on the airline dur-ing the festival period between January 7 and February 7. In addition members of Qatar Air-ways’ Privilege Club also receive double Q-miles on their book-ings during the festival.

Visitors can also avail of a range of accommodation offers

at the country’s renowned hotels when booking throughExpedia.com.

With the attractive travel and accommodation packages, it is anticipated that the festival will draw more visitors from neigh-bouring countries such as Saudi Arabia where the majority of Qatar’s visitors come from based on arrival figures of previous festivals.

EXCITING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

For three-days, the excitement of the festival was taken outdoors

when over a dozen food trucks, carts and kiosks selling popular street food and snacks were set up on the Doha Corniche.

They provided a rare chance for foodies to sample from a smorgasbord of scrumptious fare ranging from Indian pani puri to American burgers to Spanish churros to Turkish ice cream.

The first food truck in Doha, Burgeri — a Qatari brand inspired by the vintage Ameri-can diner – was one of the crowd-pullers for its delicious burgers, hotdogs and fries among other food on its menu.

Among the 17 food outlets were five kiosks of local entre-preneurs engaged in the food sector and supported by Bedaya Centre. During the evenings of January 12 to 14, the Corniche welcomed hundreds of people who enjoyed food with family and friends while watching a stunning ten-minute fireworks display.

Entertainment also consisted of performers including street musicians and 30-minute screenings on a gigantic screen of Siraj - Qatar Foundation’s new 3D animation ‘edutainment’ TV series for children.

A new addition to Shop Qatar’s offering is the Spring festivals simultaneously launched last week at Souq Waqif and Souq Al Wakrah-two of the most popular souqs in Qatar frequented by many visitors including regional tourists. Roaming shows, games and rides and stage shows are among the myriad.

VARIETY OF LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Not only the attractive pro-motions are enticing visitors to the festival but the flurry of shows including live entertain-ment for various audiences.

On Shop Qatar’s opening cer-emony held at Mall of Qatar, hundreds of people were enthralled by local stand-up comedian Hamad AlAmmari and the concert by Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi.

Tomorrow, Emirati superstar Hussain Al Jassmi will serenade

his fans with a selection of his best-known hits at the ‘Khaleeji Night’ concert at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).

This will be followed by the staging of the original produc-tion of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musical Cats from February 1 to 4 at QNCC. This original production is one of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history seen by over 73m people in over 300 cities worldwide. It is brought to Qatar by QTA and organised by Broadway Enter-tainment Group and SES. Previous Broadway and Disney shows staged in Qatar had seen huge success drawing audiences from other Gulf countries.

With standup comedy now a trend in the region, an impres-sive lineup of 15 comedians are set to tickle the funny bones of audiences in a series of shows for the Doha Comedy Festival (DCF) from February 2 to 4 at QNCC.

Two weeks after it was announced, seats for DCF’s final show, “International Night”, had been sold out. The show features world-renowned stand-up comedian and TV host of ‘The Daily Show’ Trevor Noah and British comedian, ventriloquist, and winner of Season 10 of America’s Got Talent Paul Zer-din with an opening act by Qatari comedian Hamad Al Ammari.

Comedians who will feature at the “Arabic Night” on Febru-ary 2 include Nemr (Lebanon), Rajae Qawas (Jordan), Nikolas Khoury (Jordan), Mohanad Al Hattab (Syria), Wonho Chung (Korea) and Mohammad Salem (Egypt). Bader Saleh, Ibraheem Al Khairallah and Moayad Al Nefaie (KSA) and Ahmad Al Shammari, Abdallah Al Saidan and Bashar Al Jazzaf (Kuwait) will headline the Khaleeji Night on February 3.

While the thrilling African Circus show concluded its suc-cessful two-week run at Hyatt Plaza Mall’s outdoor area last Saturday, roaming mall shows will continue throughout the festival.

Pics: Salim Matramkot

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Visit qatarairways.com

IN response to passenger demand, Qatar Airways has proudly announced it will commence four times weekly, non-stop service to Las Vegas, Nevada, starting January 8, 2018. The new route will be the airline’s 11th to the United States, con-

necting McCarran International Airport to Hamad International Airport in Doha, making Qatar Airways the first Gulf carrier to provide regular scheduled serv-ice to Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas is a thriving leisure destination and adding the city to our route map has been long over-due. Growing our western United States network is important to the airline as we are seeing exponential growth in passenger demand from the East via our state of the art hub in Doha,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker. “Our passengers appreciate the glamour, style and allure of Las Vegas and beginning in 2018, we are going to give our passengers from around the world direct and convenient access to this unique capital of entertainment.”

The new route also provides US-based flyers with an additional point of departure, when travelling abroad to Qatar Airways’ global network of over 150 destinations. It will be Qatar Airways’ second route from the American west, after the airline launched their popular Los Angeles to Doha route, in January 2016.

“International travel has been on an exponential rise and Qatar Airways serves more than 150 destina-tions, providing US passengers with shorter travel times to popular destinations in Thailand, Africa, the Mid-dle East and India,” continued H.E. Mr. Al Baker. “With each new US destination, we are bringing our signa-ture Qatar Airways hospitality to more Americans and raising their expectations for the services and sophis-tication a global airline can offer.”

This year, Qatar Airways is celebrating its 10th anniversary of serving the United States, having started serving New York/Newark in 2007. Qatar Airways currently serves 10 American cities. Las Vegas will join Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City/JFK International Airport, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. The new route will operate with a Boeing 777-200LR.

Qatar Airways Cargo has announced that it will launch freighter operations to four new destinations in the Americas, start-ing February 2, 2017.

Boeing 777 freighters will fly twice a week to the South American cities of Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Quito* and the North American city of Miami. The twice weekly freighter service will depart from Doha via Luxembourg, the cargo carrier’s Euro-pean hub, with stops at Sao Paulo in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Quito in Ecuador. On the return leg, the freighter will stop in Miami, Florida and Luxembourg before arriving in Doha.

These new freighter services aim to meet the growing demand for import and export trade in the region and will supplement the belly-hold cargo capacity on Qatar Airways daily flights to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Miami.

Qatar Airways Chief Officer Cargo, Ulrich Ogier-mann, said: “We are excited to start 2017 with the launch of four new freighter destinations. These new destinations will connect the burgeoning import and export markets in the Americas region with the rest of the world. Through our expertise in special-ised solutions, namely QR Pharma for pharmaceuticals and QR Fresh for perishables, we are able to offer our customers a seamless and an unbroken cool chain for their

temperature-sensitive products via our state-of-the-art fully automated hub in Doha.”

Qatar Airways Cargo total freighter destinations in the Americas are 12 while offering belly-hold serv-ices to 13 cities on the continent

The launch of this new freighter route repre-sents great business and network growth for Qatar Airways Cargo as it brings the cargo carrier’s total freighter destinations in the Americas to 12 while offering belly-hold services to 13 cities on the con-tinent. Major commodities out of Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Quito comprise of fresh flowers, perish-ables and pharmaceuticals, whilst imports into South America include a wide variety of products ranging from medicines, automotive, chemical products to high tech commodities and equipment for the oil and gas industry. Miami in the United States will serve as the distribution hub of these air freight to and from the Latin American and Caribbean regions.

The introduction of these new freighter services will also provide support to the perishables and phar-maceutical exports out of these key markets, offering businesses in the continent a young and modern fleet and access to the cargo carrier’s global network of more than 150 destinations via Doha hub.

The state-of-the-art, fully automated cargo facility at Hamad International Airport operates in accordance with the highest Pharmaceutical Industry Standards,

compliant with ‘Good Distribution Practice’. Pharma-ceutical and perishable shipments are stored in segregated areas, transported and handled under strictly monitored conditions as required by product specifi-cation and are handled in a climate-controlled environment during every stage, including ramp trans-portation, warehouse storage and aircraft-to-aircraft transfers. Qatar Airways Cargo is the only global airline to offer reefer truck transportation on the ramp at its Doha hub.

The world’s third largest cargo carrier recently took delivery of its 11th Boeing 777 freighter, taking the total count of freighters in operation to 20. The cargo carrier offers QR Charter, utilising its most modern fleet of Boeing B777s, Airbus A330s and Boeing 747 freighters. Its portfolio of distinctive products currently includes QR Pharma, QR Fresh, QR Live and QR Express offering efficiency and compliance in the han-dling of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical and perishable cargo, transportation of live animals as well as time-critical shipments.

The carrier earned three accolades in 2016, namely Payload Asia’s Cargo Airline of the Year (Cus-tomer Choice Category), the prestigious All-Cargo Carrier award at the 33rd Cargo Airline of the Year event and the International Award for Excellence in Air Cargo at the Air Cargo India 2016 exhibition and conference.

Qatar Airways prepares to land in Las Vegas Qatar Airways launches

non-stop flights to Tbilisi

QATAR Airways this weekend celebrated the launch of new direct flights from Doha to Tbilisi, increas-ing travel options to and from Georgia, while enhancing overall journey times. Qatar Airways now operates four direct flights to Tbilisi from

Doha’s Hamad International Airport, complementing the exist-ing seven weekly flights that operate via Baku in Azerbaijan.

Operated by a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 aircraft, the new direct scheduled flight time - of just over three hours from Doha - sees overall journey times drop significantly across the airline’s global network to and from this increas-ingly popular tourist destination, complemented by seamless transfers through the airline’s global home and hub, Hamad International Airport, in the State of Qatar.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, commented: “We are delighted to celebrate the launch of direct flights to Tbilisi, offering Georgian citizens shorter jour-ney times to more than 150 destinations around the world. As both an economical and cultural hub, our new shorter flight times will attract many business and leisure passengers alike, while our tagged service via Baku will continue to offer a quick and efficient link between Azerbaijan and Georgia.”

Qatar Airways also increased service to Yerevan, the cap-ital of Armenia, from a four to five weekly service on 15 December, with an additional frequency each week due to the popularity of the route which was first inaugurated in May 2016.

The Airbus A320 aircraft offers a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy, fea-turing individual television screens providing all passengers in both cabins with the next generation interactive onboard entertainment system Oryx One with 3,000 different enter-tainment options.

Qatar Airways Business Class is widely recognized as an industry leader recently receiving two significant accolades at the 2016 Skytrax World Airline Awards, with passengers choosing Qatar Airways as the World's Best Business Class and also Best Business Class Airline Lounge in the Middle East.

Qatar Airways is one of the fastest growing airlines in avi-ation history with a network of over 150 exciting destinations. In 2016 travellers continued to see Qatar Airways expand its global reach, with services launched to Adelaide (Australia), Atlanta (USA), Birmingham (UK), Boston (USA), Los Angeles (USA), Marrakech (Morocco), Pisa (Italy), Ras Al Khaimah (UAE), Sydney (Australia), Windhoek (Namibia), Yerevan (Armenia), Krabi (Thailand) and the Seychelles.

Airline announces 11th USA route starting January 8, 2018

QA Cargo to begin 4 new freighter

destinations in the Americas

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Doha Festival City, the largest entertainment and retail development in the Gulf, is set to open its gates for pub-lic in March. The QR6.5bn

mixed-use development will be home to more than 500 international and local brands along with entertainment offer-ings and Food and Beverages (F&B) outlets.

“To date, we are in the final devel-opment phase of Doha Festival City and are set to open our doors to the public in March 2017. On the opening day, the majority of the mall will open including the two main hallways, the Centre Court and North Food Court,” Trevor Hill, Gen-eral Manager, Doha Festival City Mall said. “We are planning the opening cel-ebrations to commence from this time with ongoing events, entertainment and activities to then take place over the fol-lowing few months,” he added.

With a gross building area the equiv-alent size of 94 football pitches, and a gross leasable area of 244,000 square metre, the project is expecting over 20 million guests within the first year of opening of Doha Festival City, located at north of Doha on Al Shamal Road.

“We have a phased approach to bring our remaining key attractions on line, by April 2017 we will launch the second food court – in the south of the Mall, and the Luxury Wing. The theme parks will also open throughout Q2 (second quarter) – with the immersive digital gaming venue Virtuocity set to be the first of the four, followed by Angry Birds World, Snow Dunes and Juniverse,” he said.

Some of the prominent brands that are set to open include the international department stores - Harvey Nichols – a first for Qatar, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Centrepoint and BHS as well as

the first ACE Hardware store in Qatar. The international retail franchise oper-ator M H Alshaya Co has announced that 45 of their leading brands will open at Doha Festival City, with several ‘market firsts’ promised, added Hill.

Other well-known international brands set to open include the LEGO Store, JCrew, Victoria’s Secret and Muji. “For F&B visitors will be spoilt for choice, with the opening of more than 100 places to dine and relax including restaurants, cafes, and casual dining outlets includ-ing Serendipity 3, Abdul Wahab Lebanese Restaurant, as well as top international dining outlets including Texas Road-house, Hummingbird Bakery, Bouchon, Eataly and The Cheesecake Factory,” he said.

The French retail chain, Monoprix Hypermarket, is also set to open its larg-est store worldwide at the mall. Monoprix Hypermarket will boast more than 35,000 high-quality goods within its 7,000 square metre location, including several product lines that will be new and exclusive to Qatar to give our shop-pers exclusivity.

Doha Festival City has many inno-vative aspects that set it apart from other destinations. “Our vision was to create a space for the whole community to come together and celebrate the best leisure facilities, retail mix and hospitality, all with exceptional service. Our much loved brands along with entertainment offer-ings and F&B outlets will provide visitors with a comprehensive combination that will appeal to guests of every age. In addition to our retail offerings, we will have four unique family friendly theme parks to give our guests a range of fun experiences,” he said.

Some of the theme parks will be open for the first time in the Middle East such

as “Angry Birds World” that’s inspired from the global gaming sensation. Angry Birds World will include over 35 attrac-tions, both indoor and outdoor and have digitally interactive rides such as the Mid-dle East’s longest Go-Kart Track and the Water Rapids. The second theme park will be “Snow Dunes”, which will be Qatar’s first indoor snow park with a dis-tinct Arabian theme featuring snow fall, snow slides, sledge rides among others.

Then there is “Juniverse”, that’s an edutainment park for children that har-nesses the power of dynamic learning and offers state-of-the-art role-playing experience for children and “Virtuocity” which is exclusively created for teens and adults to deliver an immersive digital gaming experience with its 230 seater eSports Arena, 10 racing simulators, eight flight simulators & 50 generation con-soles. VOX’s revolutionary 4DX cinema experience will feature simulated rain, wind, thunder, lightning, motion and even scents, he added.

“Our other innovative offerings include the sports facilities that encour-age physical activity and a healthy lifestyle in Qatar. We will offer a range of green space with outdoor facilities that are free of charge to guests and include two outdoor basketball courts and a 3 kilometre trail surrounding the Mall with numerous routes for both run-ning and cycling,” he said.

“Our media partner, Elan Media will also provide best-in-class turnkey solu-tions to the Mall, which will enable brands to reach up to millions of visi-tors per year with their state-of-the art in-mall advertising. Three new formats never seen before in Qatar will be viewed by our guests and include ‘The Axis, The Runway and The Torch’,” he added.

Doha Festival City expects 20 million visitors a year

VOX Cinemas is all set to open

Middle East’s most innovative and customer-focused cinema exhib-itor, VOX Cinemas is all set to open in Qatar for the first time at Doha Festival City. Set to revolutionise the cinema experience for

audiences with 18 screens, the Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas brand outlet will include four new concepts completely unique to Doha Festival City, that will open in March.

“VOX Cinemas is one of the most highly anticipated brands for our customers and we are delighted to be bringing this concept to Qatar for the first time – showcasing what it does best. The mall is more than just a shopping destination, it is a place where visitors will be able to take advantage of a huge variety of activities and VOX sets the precedent for the premium experience on offer,” said Trevor Hill, General Manager, Doha Festival City.

The VOX 4DX concept, exclusive to VOX Cinemas in the Middle East, will finally be available for movie lovers in Doha. Going beyond the con-fines of the theatre, the cinema’s 4DX technology transports audiences into another world with simulated rain, wind, thunder, lightning, motion and even scents. Equipped with dynamic 4DX motion chairs and engag-ing environmental effects, 4DX turns each movie into a journey beyond imagination.

VOX Cinemas’ luxury culinary concept THEATRE by Rhodes, the brain-child of Michelin Star celebrity chef Gary Rhodes and the first of its kind in Qatar, will combine the perfect mix of fine food and film. Customers can relax in reclining leather armchairs and indulge in a gourmet menu which is brought straight to their cinema seat.

In another exclusive offering VOX MAX includes a wall-to-wall screen and the latest in sound technology. Whilst VOX KIDS is a fun-filled cin-ema for little ones with an adjoining party room perfect for birthday celebrations.

Across all 18 screens, customers will be able to watch the latest Ara-bic, Indian and Hollywood blockbusters, as well as specially selected global film choices in world-class surroundings.

"Demand for innovative entertainment experiences is on the rise in Qatar which is why this partnership was a perfect next step for us. With an 18-screen cinema complex, unparalleled customer experiences, inno-vative concepts and high quality food and beverage, cinema goers in Doha can expect many great moments and we are looking forward to a suc-cessful, long-term partnership with Doha Festival City,” said Cameron Mitchell, CEO Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas - VOX Cinemas.

THE Magical Festival Village, which on its second season is open until the end of April at Katara, has further expanded its offering with the launch of

Ladies Boulevard- a new section devoted for ladies and fashion shows.

Spread over an area of 1000 square meters, Ladies Boulevard is an enter-tainment venue which includes 21 commercial outlets, showcasing the most luxurious brands that focus on Arab woman preference, and offering high-end elegance and beauty products of top fashion and jewelry designers from the Gulf, Arab countries and India.

A wide range of high-end fashion products ranging from Arab Abaya to the finest clothes designs in the Gulf region, the world’s most luxury brands of shoes, bags, perfumes and cosmet-ics, in addition to housewares such as spare antiques, paintings, decorations, placemats are among the products avail-able in this new section.

Ezdan World Company , a subsidi-ary of Ezdan Holding Group, has announced it intends to run fashion shows of renowned Arab female design-ers and has allocated sufficient spaces to accommodate all female visitors.

Abdul Aziz Al Mohannadi, General

Manager of Ezdan World company, said: "The second season will be full of sur-prises and events that interest every Arab woman, to whom we have paid a special attention in this project, as ladies represent the most important category of visitors in terms of turnout and pos-itive interaction to the village's facilities

and recreational activities.” He added: “They’re a key element

of our present and future marketing plans that we develop to enrich the vil-lage, in all its seasons, with diverse products and events devoted for women, fashion shows as an example. Further-more, we aim to increase the turnout of

Arab and global design houses to show-case their latest fashion brands and labels to the public and provide the best they have in Qatar."

The second season of the Magical Festival Village is held with the support of the Qatar Tourism Authority in con-nection with the upcoming tourism and

shopping festival. This project, situated on an area of

50,000sqm within Katara, includes more than 200 games and recreational activities.

It comprises up to 400 retail outlets, including 357 commercial shops, 19 cafes and 20 restaurants with about 500 seats and chairs for the public.

Ezdan World had earlier announced that it looks forward to doubling the footfall volume during this season, due to the substantial occupancy rates in retail outlets that exceeded 75%. More-over, this season will bring on rich and diverse programmes and festivals that will be held throughout the weekdays, attracting all visitors’ categories, fami-lies and children in particular.

These shows and performances are anticipated to be held at the Onsite Theater, which accommodates more than 1,200 spectators. The venue will provide exciting and diverse perform-ances, some are free of charge, in addition to circus world shows by top international artistes and performers.

The project is classified as a seasonal project that has seen a significant momentum since its inception, with a large turnout exceeding 19,000 visitors during holidays alone.

Magical Festival Village launches Ladies Boulevard

7

Qanat Quartier hosted yet another edition of the successful ‘Family Fun Fridays’ series 2017, featuring a variety of entertainment activities for all the family. This initiative by United Development

Company (UDC), the master developer of The Pearl-Qatar, aims to attract hundreds of families from Qatar as well as visitors from the GCC.

A number of artistic performances and recreational activities will be organized especially for children including balloon twisting, face painting, coloring stations as well as stilt walkers and mascots which will be lining up the entire stretch at Qanat Quartier. Also during the event, cotton candy, popcorn and ice cream were distributed free to all participants. The fun-filled event run for four hours, starting from 4pm and ending at 8pm.

The Family Fun Fridays at The Pearl-Qatar’s Qanat Quartier and Porto Arabia, which will continue for each Friday until January 27, 2017.

There are many activities that will be taking place during this event, in addition to getting a chance to explore the coffee shops, restaurants and other things the opened recently at Qanat Quartier.

The “Family Fun Fridays” series is part of UDC’s diverse community events, which not only pledge to promote The Pearl-Qatar as a family friendly destination, but also target to promote the different retail areas housed by the Island. All kids will be able to enjoy the bouncy castles and inflatable slides, train ride and much more such as face painting besides there is a team that will draw awesome paintings on children faces and various games.

Thus the choice of Qanat Quartier’s up and coming retail area as a host to this upcoming series of the “Family Fun Fridays”, leverages the recent new openings of exciting boutique-style restaurants, coffee shops and convenience stores by creating a nice blend of retail and leisure to event participants further showcasing this charming precinct.

Family Fun Fridays series at Qanat Quartier

The Hamad Interna-tional Airport (HIA) yesterday entered the elite category of global airports becoming the

sixth airport in the world to receive the ‘5-Star Airport’ des-ignation by Skytrax, the London-based aviation institute, an internationally reputable rat-ing agency of airports and airlines.

This makes HIA the first ever airport in the Middle East to earn this acclaimed title. The prestig-ious 5-Star Airport rating is awarded to airports achieving the highest, overall Quality Performance.

The 5-Star Airport rating rec-ognises those airports providing excellent facilities for customers combined with high quality air-port staff service. Airport Quality ranking covers frontline areas for departures, arrival and trans-fer, including airport facilities, customer service, security, immi-gration, shop outlets and food and beverage facilities.

The highest rating – five stars – has previously only been awarded to five other airports worldwide: Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo-Haneda and Munich.

This recognition is particu-larly timely as it comes after a year of reaching a number of strategic milestones at HIA, including the introduction of its iBeacon enabled mobile app, the launch of the Smart Airport fea-tures in the terminal, the operation of the dual passenger train shuttle to concourses D and E and the opening of multiple duty free stores.

Moreover, HIA has contin-ued to work closely with Qatar Museums adding multiple inter-national and local art installations across the terminal.

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Air-ways Group Chief Executive, said: “Hamad International Air-port was designed and built in the modern era, taking into

account what passengers want most - convenience and service. HIA more than exceeds passen-ger expectations by providing what passengers want in an environment that is beautiful, thoughtful and welcoming."

Al Baker said that HIA’s suc-cess is apparent in the fact that it is now at capacity, and the third phase of its development is highly anticipated.

"The airport serves more than 30 million passengers every year, and will grow to 50 million, yet each passenger can design their own experience at the air-port, whether it is shopping in the world-class Qatar Duty Free premium stores, relaxing in one of its 12 lounges, resting comfort-ably in the Airport Hotel or using one of the many amenities at the Vitality Spa including the squash courts and the swimming pool. The airport experience is

designed to be as memorable as the journey," he added.

Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer of HIA, said: “Joining the elite of airports and being the first airport in the Middle East to earn five stars from Skytrax is an honour, and a direct result of the thousands of people who ensure HIA oper-ates smoothly every day, every flight. No matter how long our guests are with us, we strive to make their journey flawless and memorable. This acknowledge-ment is highly gratifying and will continue to motivate us to cre-ate an exceptional experience for everyone.”

Edward Plaisted, CEO of Sky-trax, said: “We extend our congratulations to HIA for achieving this 5-Star Airport rec-ognition, as well as being the first airport in the Middle East to gain this status."

HIA becomes world's sixth 5-Star Airport

This makes HIA the first ever airport in the Middle East to earn this acclaimed title. The prestigious 5-Star Airport rating is awarded to airports achieving the highest overall Quality Performance.

8

Many travellers have started benefiting from the relaxed transit visa rules applicable for Qatar Air-ways passengers with a

minimum layover of five hours in Doha. Free transit visas for short stopovers

was implemented since November 1 last year to attract more visitors to the coun-try. The new system allows transiting passengers of all nationalities to enter Qatar for up to 96 hours in between flights.

Several travellers The Peninsula spoke to shared their experiences say-ing the visa procedures were very convenient and their stay in Doha was memorable. Passengers travelling with Qatar Airways with a minimum transit time of five hours at Hamad Interna-tional Airport can stay in Qatar for up to 96 hours, by applying for an entry visa in advance.

Passengers booking a multi-city option with Qatar Airways can simply include the stopover in Doha to their booking, at no extra charge. The ticket bookings and applications for the pre-approved transit visa should be done at least seven days (excluding public hol-idays) prior to departure. The visa is valid for 30 days from the date of issuance.

Wathsala Perera who visited Doha with her mother in December said:

“Applying for the visa via Qatar Airways was very easy. Within three days we received our visas. I have a British pass-port and my mom has a Sri Lankan passport but we both got our visas within same period.”

Within 11 hours of transit, they were able to visit several places in the country. “It was really a good experience to visit a Middle Eastern county for the first time. It really changed my perception about the region. All I have read is that these countries have strict rules, especially for women. We thought women should cover head to toe with oversized clothes but in Qatar we were wearing the same dress we dressed in the UK . During the visit I managed to see the desert, camels for the first time and to buy fresh dates from the market. I really enjoyed the traditional atmosphere of Souq Waqif and the modern structures in Doha and the City Centre shopping mall," said Perera.

She, however, suggested that a fast track visa processing desk for transit visa holders and shuttle service between the airport and the Doha downtown and other major attractions would help passengers save time.

To apply for a transit visa, a confirmed ticket to Qatar and onwards on one of the Qatar Airways operated flights is required, along with a clear passport copy for each passenger

(including infants). The passport should be valid for a minimum of six months at the time of entry into Qatar.

However, entry into Qatar will be at the discretion of the immigration authorities and the Qatar Airways offices act only as a processing agent for visa applications.

Rickaz Raheem, who plans to visit Doha next month using a transit visa, along with his spouse and son, said, “I’m glad that an airline operator in the Gulf region is facilitating an easy transit visa process. In general, booking tickets via Qatar Airways website is very convenient. I find it professional and user- friendly. Once the ticket is booked the website automatically asks if the passenger requires a visa to Qatar. Once we enter the visa application page all our details get automatically updated and the only additional requirement is to attach the first page of our passports and provide with the address and contact mobile number during our stay in Doha.”

“We got our visas within three days. I have travelled to a few countries, including some in the GCC and would say this was the most hassle free experience in getting a visa,” he added.

Nahna, who had a stopover in Doha while travelling from Germany to Dubai, said: “My husband and son have German passports and they are

eligible for on-arrival visa in Doha. But I, having an Indian passport, always had to go through the standard visa applying procedures when we visit our relatives in Doha. But with this new transit visa system it was very easy to apply and it is free of charge.”

“It’s convenient and saves time as well as money,” she added.

Some travellers have also shared

their experience on social networking sites.

“We did a 36 layover in Doha and am very glad we did! That time was enough for us to see around the coun-try and it is definitely something everyone should do. The Museum of Islamic Arts alone is worth the trip, and admission is free,” said a traveller.

Tourist arrivals

rise after new

transit visa rules

Pics : Sajad Sahir