DOHA - Qatar expects the overall number of annual foreign visitors to the country to be below 2016 levels for the next three years if it remains cut off from some of its neighbours, a senior tourism official said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain banned their citizens from visiting the small, wealthy Gulf state after cutting ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar denies this.

Saudi Arabia was Qatar's single largest source market in 2016, accounting for around a third of its 2.94 million visitors.

Growth from other markets is expected to continue despite the crisis and an increase in Chinese, Indian, and Russian visitors will drive net visitor growth in 2020, said Qatar Tourism Authority Chief Tourism Development Officer Hassan al-Ibrahim.

"We are expecting in the next three years we will be able to recoup and go back to the KPIs (key performance indicators) and numbers we have put in our previous strategy," he told Reuters at a World Tourism Day event in Doha.

He added that it "depends on the geopolitical situation" but that the authority was targeting for growth to resume in 2020.

Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup, announced in August it was granting visa-free entry for nationals of 80 countries, including China, India, Russia, and dozens in Europe, as part of a scheme to encourage tourism.

United Nations World Tourism Organisation Secretary General Taleb Rifai said the dispute, which will enter its fourth month next week, would not have a lasting impact on Qatar's tourism industry.

"We have not seen an impact at the regional level and no impact will be sustained on Qatari tourism," he told reporters.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; editing by Mark Heinrich) ((Alexander.Cornwell@thomsonreuters.com;))