Qatar Becomes First Gulf Country on U.S. Visa Waiver List

Skift Take

Qatar is the 42nd country to make the list, but its inclusion is more to do with the country’s politics than its tourism sector.

Josh Corder

Qatar has been added to the United States Visa Waiver Program, meaning citizens of both countries can visit the other visa-free. The small Arab state is the first country to be added this year and the only country in the Gulf region on the list.

But Qatar makes the list not necessarily because of its status as a tourism hub. Rather, it has committed to help the U.S. on security matters.

For admission to the program that permits visitors traveling for tourism or business to stay up to 90 days without a visa, the U.S. requires countries to meet specific criteria in areas like counterterrorism, law enforcement, immigration control, document security, and border management.

Qatar made a “significant whole-of-government effort to meet all program requirements,” including on partnering to share information on terrorism and serious crimes, according to the statement.

“Qatar’s fulfillment of the stringent security requirements to join the Visa Waiver Program will deepen our strategic partnership and enhance the flow of people and commerce between our two countries,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Qatar is the 42nd country to join the program. Croatia was added in 2021, followed by Israel last year. The program mandates that participating countries offer U.S. citizens similar visa-free travel privileges.

U.S. tourism in Qatar is relatively small, it accounts for around 4% of arrivals. 129,000 U.S. travelers visited Qatar up to August this year out of a total of 3.28 million tourists. Qatar receives a similar number of tourists from Kuwait (124,000 arrivals), Oman (118,000), and Bahrain (150,000).

Since the FIFA World Cup in Doha in 2022, Qatar has been trying to recapture the immense demand it had during those two months.

Without large-scale events, particularly sporting ones, Qatar’s tourism sector tends to shrink. The issue is greater when considering the country built an extra 10,000 hotel rooms between the start of 2022 and now, increasing the country’s supply by a third. Qatar now has just shy of 40,000 hotel rooms.

Looking at 2023 as a whole, hotels were usually half empty, with an average occupancy rate of 58% at a cost of $112 a night.

In July, the country’s national airline Qatar Airways introduced new packages to incentivize travelers to stop over in Doha for 48 hours.

The packages allow travelers to stay in Qatar for as long as four nights, availing subsidized packages for hotels and activities. It operates through Qatar Airways’ holiday subsidiary: Qatar Holidays.

Qatar’s tourism authority offers transit visas to travelers for around $27, and offers dedicated tours for travelers stopping over in the Arab state for six hours or more.