Businesses in the travel and tourism industry in Qatar are facing significant operational and financial strain due to the ongoing Middle East conflict.

Qatar Chamber’s Tourism Committee met on Tuesday to tackle the challenges faced by the sector, including mounting pressure on liquidity as businesses handle refund demands due to flight cancellations and financial obligations without securing new customers, according to the Qatar News Agency..

Businesses are also dealing with rising operating costs as revenues stall, making the maintenance of staff and offices unsustainable.

Major airports hubs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, including those in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha suspended operations following the US-Israeli war on Iran, with carriers recently only running limited relief flights.

A cornerstone of economic diversification for the GCC, the travel and tourism sector contributed more than $247 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP) in the region in 2024, up nearly 32% from 2019. The figure is forecast to rise to $371.2 billion by 2034.

The chamber is expected to create a small working group to identify the issues faced by businesses in the sector to find appropriate solutions.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com