Doha: Qatar witnessed a strong growth of visitors in April 2023 as the country recorded a total of 3,281,487 air passengers, a rise of 31 percent, according to the Air Transport Statistics released by Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA).

According to a tweet by the QCAA recently, the country registered a total of 3,281,487 air passengers in April this year, indicating an increase of 31 percent, compared to 2,505,025 logged during the same period in 2022.

Air transport statistics further noted that the aircraft movement recorded 14.3 percent year-on-year rise in April 2023, totalling 18,762 flights, compared to 16,411 in the same time period last year.

Meanwhile, cargo and mail showed an 8.3 percent decline of 186,302 tonnes, compared to 203,261 tonnes recorded in April 2022. The number of passengers registered in the months of February and March were the highest ever recorded figures for these two months since the start of operations at both Hamad and Doha International Airports.

The month of March 2023 indicated an increase in aircraft movement by 12.9 percent compared to the same month last year. The number of passengers also increased by 25 percent compared to March 2022. Meanwhile, air freight and mail showed a decline of 5.2 percent compared to the same month in 2022.

Qatar saw a strong growth in the arrival of visitors which has boosted the tourism sector. The total number of inbound visitors reached 433,114 in March this year recording a monthly increase of 11.3 percent compared to February 2023 according to the latest report released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).

Visitors from GCC countries contributed significantly to the strong growth in tourist arrivals in Qatar in April. In visitor arrivals by region, GCC countries make up 38 percent of the total arrivals as the number of visitors stood at 164,410 in April 2023, against 21,900 in the same month last year, showing a surge of 207.4 percent.

Maintaining its momentum from last year’s global tournament, Qatar welcomed a total of 730,000 visitors in January and February 2023, marking an increase of 347 percent from the previous year.

For this year, Qatar Tourism announced a package of programmes as part of its strategy aimed at strengthening Qatar’s position as a leading global tourist destination, attracting 6 million visitors annually by 2030, and raising the tourism sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) to 12 percent by the decade end.

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