Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is leading a Qatari delegation of 21 local industry partners to participate in the 37th World Travel Market (WTM) taking place this week at London.

Qatari delegation will shed light on Qatar’s natural, cultural and historic landmarks and to promote the country as a tourism destination among travel professionals and tourism industry leaders in the United Kingdom.

The UK is Qatar’s largest visitor source market in Europe, accounting for close to a third of European visitors to Qatar in 2015.

A year on from the international unveiling of the Qatar destination brand at WTM 2015, QTA has sustained and built interest in Qatar as a premium destination through its year-round promotional efforts particularly those targeting UK travelers.

Over the past year, QTA has actively sought to engage British travel agents through an informative roadshow in five key cities Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as Dublin in neighboring Ireland.

The rising interest in Qatar as a distinctive tourist destination is evident in the increasing number of UK travel agents – reaching nearly 1,000 – who have signed up for QTA’s Tawash online destination training program, where 60% of them have successfully graduated as qualified experts in Qatar’s tourist attractions.

On the sidelines of the three-day exhibition, QTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Georgian Department of Economic Development. The MoU opens channels for cooperation in the areas of planning, development, investment, marketing, promotion and education for the respective country’s tourism industries.

WTM takes place every year in London and is one of the most significant events in tourism industry globally. More than 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, tourism industry leaders, government officials and international press visit WTM each year to network and negotiate with representatives from global tourism destinations, and to discover latest investment opportunities in tourism industry.