QATAR: Qatar Airways Launches Eighth Route To Saudi Arabia

Qatar Airways has launched a new service to its eighth destination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with four flights a week to Abha.

Qatar Airways flight QR1212, which landed at Abha international Airport yesterday was welcomed with a traditional water salute. At airport ceremony, Engineer Tariq Al-AbdulJabbar, Assistant Vice President of Domestic Airports welcomed the first Qatar Airways flight to Abha.

"We have been steadily growing our presence and services to Saudi Arabia for the past 18 years," said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker.

"As our eighth destination in the Kingdom, Abha will bring additional flexibility for passengers connecting from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. From Abha, our passengers will now be able to travel seamlessly through our state-of-the-art Doha hub Hamad International Airport to popular cities such as London, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, New York and Washington. At the same time this will provide passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia from international markets the convenience of another gateway."

Qatar Airways began operations to the Kingdom in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah. The airline has added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Gassim, Ta’if and Al Hofuf to its portfolio of destinations, all non-stop to and from Doha, with connections to most of Qatar Airways’ destinations worldwide.

Qatar Airways currently operates 84 weekly flights to seven key cities in Saudi Arabia. The addition of Abha will increase the number of Qatar Airways’ weekly flights to Saudi Arabia to 88 non-stop flights.

The city of Abha is the capital of Asir, a south-western province in the Kingdom, rapidly gaining in popularity in the region as a tourist destination due to its attractions, its mild seasonal weather and breath-taking mountains.

UAE: Gulf Tourists Spent SR22bn In Kingdom Last Year

Saudi Arabia's pavilion at Arab Tourism Exhibition in Dubai.

Last year, 6.6 million tourists from the Arabian Gulf spent SR22.8 billion in the Kingdom, according to a report from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) released here this week.

A report by Tourism Information and Research Center (MAS), the statistical arm of SCTNH, indicated that the number of people who visited the Kingdom during the past year (2014) from GCC countries was 11.3 million visitors.

One-day visits, without an overnight stay accounted for SR4.7 million. Over 6.6 million tourists spent about SR22.8 billion — where the one-day visitor without an overnight stay is not considered a tourist by global tourism concept.

Both Kuwait and Bahrain had a large presence in terms of the number of tourist arrivals to the Kingdom by about 33 percent each, followed by Qatar and the United Arabic Emirates.

The Makkah province including Makkah, Jeddah and Taif, occupied the first position in receiving GCC tourists, followed by Madinah, Eastern Province, Riyadh and Asir.

The first half of 2015 provided a total number around 7.4 million GCC visitors to the Kingdom, an increase of 25 percent compared with the same period last year, of whom 2.1 million visitors were day visitors-without overnight stay. About 5.2 million tourists spent about 30.5 million nights and spent nearly SR11.8 billion which went into the Saudi economy.

The ministers of tourism of GCC countries endorsed in their second meeting, which was held in Doha on October 7, a plan of action to strengthen intraregional tourism, and established a group chaired by Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of SCTNH, to lay out a comprehensive joint tourism vision, for strategic goals, in addition to preparing an implementation plan to achieve the vision and strategic goals within three months.

SCTNH supports Saudi travel companies in organizing tours for GCC nationals through engaging them in specialized travel exhibitions such as Arabian Travel Market, which is held annually in Dubai, and the Travel and Tourism Exhibition in Kuwait.

QATAR: Qatar Airways Launches Doha To Abha In Saudi Arabia

Amongst other VIPs, the ceremony at Abha to mark the start of the four times weekly operation by the oneworld member from Doha was hosted by Qatar Airways SVP Aero Political & Regulatory Affairs, Ali Al-Rais, along with Engineer Tariq Al-AbdulJabbar, Assistant VP of Domestic Airports. The celebrations were followed by an exchange of gifts in the presence of local media.

Qatar Airways has launched a new service to its eighth destination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with four flights a week to Abha (AHB). The city of Abha is the capital of Asir, a south-western province in KSA. The inaugural flight from Doha (DOH) landed on 2 September.

“We have been steadily growing our presence and services to Saudi Arabia for the past 18 years,” said Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker. “As our eighth destination in the Kingdom, Abha will bring additional flexibility for passengers connecting from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

From Abha, our passengers will now be able to travel seamlessly through our state-of-the-art Doha hub Hamad International Airport to popular cities such as London, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, New York and Washington. At the same time this will provide passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia from international markets the convenience of another gateway.”

Qatar Airways began operations to the KSA in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah. The airline has since added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Gassim, Taif and Hofuf to its portfolio of destinations and currently operates 84 weekly flights to Saudi Arabia. The new route will be operated by the airline’s 144-seat A320s with no direct competition.