Qatar is setting its sights firmly on India as it pursues another year of record visitor numbers, targeting a robust 6 to 7 percent increase in Indian tourist arrivals in 2026 and positioning Qatar Airways at the heart of a fast-expanding air bridge between the two countries. With nearly half a million Indians already visiting in 2025, an aggressive events calendar, strengthened health and wellness offerings, and near-daily connectivity from 13 Indian cities, the Gulf state is moving to turn short breaks and stopovers into immersive, experience-rich journeys that anchor its long-term tourism vision to 2030.
India Emerges as a Strategic Growth Engine for Qatar
India has rapidly evolved from a promising source market into a strategic pillar of Qatar’s visitor mix. According to figures shared by Visit Qatar, the country hosted about 483,000 travellers from India in 2025, up from roughly 454,000 a year earlier, marking growth of around 6 percent year on year. For 2026, officials are now openly banking on at least 6 to 7 percent further growth in arrivals from India, signaling confidence in both the resilience of outbound Indian travel and Qatar’s appeal as a mid-haul, high-value destination.
This push comes as India consolidates its role as Qatar’s second-largest source market globally, trailing only visitors from the wider Gulf region. Industry analyses for 2024 and 2025 show India accounting for a sizable share of overall arrivals, in some reports surpassing 8 percent of total visitors. Against that backdrop, even mid-single-digit annual growth translates into tens of thousands of additional Indian travellers, more filled hotel rooms, and a stronger case for sustained route expansion by Qatar Airways.
Qatar’s broader tourism performance provides a supportive backdrop. The country welcomed about 5 million visitors in 2024 and more than 2.6 million international visitors in just the first half of 2025. Tourism contributed an estimated 8 percent to national GDP in 2024, with policymakers targeting 10 to 12 percent by 2030. In this context, India is not just one more market but a cornerstone of how Qatar plans to meet and potentially exceed its 6 million international visitor goal by the end of the decade.
The 6 to 7 percent growth target for Indian visitors in 2026 is therefore less a one-off spike and more a calibrated step in a multi-year expansion strategy. By setting a clear, measurable benchmark, Visit Qatar is framing India as a long-term partner in its economic diversification effort and sending a signal to airlines, hoteliers, and investors that this corridor offers sustained potential.
Qatar Airways as the Connectivity Powerhouse
At the heart of Qatar’s India strategy sits Qatar Airways, whose dense network across the subcontinent has turned Doha’s Hamad International Airport into one of the most accessible Gulf hubs for Indian travellers. According to Visit Qatar, there are currently 99 weekly flights connecting 13 Indian cities to Qatar, operating at around 90 percent capacity. This combination of breadth and load factor underscores the intensity of demand and the scope for further frequency increases and gauge upgrades in the years ahead.
The network spans key metros and high-yield cities, providing non-stop or one-stop access from India to Doha and onward to Europe, Africa, the Americas, and East Asia. For Qatar Airways, Indian travellers are not only point-to-point visitors headed for Doha’s museums, beaches, and stadiums, but also a crucial component of its global connecting traffic. This dual role has encouraged the carrier to invest heavily in schedule depth, timing its departures and arrivals to sync with peak bank waves for long-haul connections.
Recent trends in Qatar’s aviation sector point to sustainable, demand-led growth. Data from the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority shows passenger numbers edging up in 2025, with more than 4.8 million passengers handled in a single month and aircraft movements remaining stable despite challenging global conditions. Aviation experts in Doha characterize this as a shift from rapid expansion to carefully managed consolidation, where growth is driven less by speculative capacity and more by proven market appetite, including from India.
With Indian flights already operating at high occupancy, Visit Qatar officials note that Qatar Airways could consider increasing frequencies from India in the future. Any capacity uplift would dovetail neatly with Qatar’s tourism ambitions, improving seat availability during peak holiday and events seasons and making spontaneous short breaks more feasible for India’s rising middle class.
Unstoppable Connectivity: Beyond Flights to Seamless Journeys
While seat count and city coverage are crucial metrics, Qatar’s strategy increasingly revolves around the idea of end-to-end connectivity. The Doha hub is being promoted not only as a stopover point but as a gateway that compresses travel time from Indian cities to a wide range of global destinations, while also offering a rewarding stay in Qatar itself. This aligns with the global trend in which hubs are marketed as destinations, not mere transit points.
Hamad International Airport plays a central role in this narrative. Regularly ranked among the world’s leading airports, it offers swift transfers, expansive lounges, high-end retail, and wellness spaces that appeal to both leisure and business travellers from India. For many first-time visitors, the airport serves as an introduction to Qatar’s brand of understated luxury and efficiency, setting expectations for what awaits beyond immigration.
On the ground, connectivity extends through metro and road networks that link the airport with Doha’s cultural, commercial, and waterfront districts in a matter of minutes. This ease of movement is particularly appealing for short-stay Indian travellers who want to experience multiple facets of the city in a limited timeframe. For example, a long weekend can feasibly include a morning at the Museum of Islamic Art, lunch in Msheireb Downtown Doha, and an evening stroll at the Corniche or Lusail Boulevard.
Qatar’s multi-access strategy also leverages land and sea entry points, but for Indian travellers, air remains the dominant mode. The stability of air operations and the continuous refinement of airport services underscore the idea of unstoppable connectivity, where each component of the journey is designed to be smooth, predictable, and value-enhancing. This is a critical differentiator as India’s outbound travellers grow more discerning and more sensitive to the overall journey experience, not just the fare.
A Packed 2026 Events Calendar to Lure Indian Visitors
Visit Qatar is pairing connectivity with content, building a 2026 events calendar that it describes as one of its most attractive yet. Officials highlight a diverse line-up of concerts, food festivals, and culinary experiences explicitly curated to draw travellers from around the world, with a particular eye on India. These events are designed to transform Qatar from a transit hub into a destination where timing a visit to coincide with a festival or performance becomes a compelling reason to book.
Sport remains a central anchor. After the global spotlight of the FIFA World Cup, Qatar has consistently positioned itself as a venue for international sporting events spanning football, athletics, tennis, motorsport, and more. For Indian travellers, who show high engagement with global sports, the opportunity to pair a live event with a short leisure break enhances the value proposition. Packages built around tournaments, marathons, or regional championships are expected to feature prominently in the Indian market in 2026.
The culinary and cultural segments are also being ramped up. Food events and gastronomy-focused festivals showcase both Qatari heritage and the country’s cosmopolitan dining scene, which ranges from traditional souq eateries to Michelin-starred restaurants. For Indian visitors, many of whom are highly motivated by food experiences, such programming offers a strong emotional hook. Curated itineraries that combine desert excursions, museum visits, and food trails are likely to feature in travel trade promotions.
Qatar is additionally exploring deeper collaborations with Bollywood and the wider Indian entertainment industry. Visit Qatar representatives have indicated interest in working with Indian film producers and influencers, recognizing the power of cinema and digital content to shape destination aspirations. A successful Bollywood shoot or star-led campaign can translate quickly into social media momentum and heightened curiosity among Indian travellers considering a new destination.
Health, Wellness, and Medical Tourism as Emerging Pillars
Beyond traditional leisure segments, Qatar is now spotlighting its health system and wellness infrastructure as a draw for Indian visitors. Visit Qatar officials have confirmed ongoing efforts with the Ministry of Health to develop packages that combine medical treatment with destination discovery, targeting travellers who want both high-quality care and a restful environment for recovery or rejuvenation.
Qatar’s modern hospitals and specialty clinics, supported by advanced technology and international medical teams, are well positioned to attract patients from India seeking procedures in cardiology, orthopedics, fertility, and other specialties. By bundling consultations, treatment, accommodation, and post-care stays into integrated offers, the country aims to differentiate itself in a competitive medical tourism landscape that already includes regional players as well as traditional favourites such as Thailand.
Wellness, meanwhile, extends beyond clinical settings. High-end resorts, spas, and beachfront properties are increasingly marketing holistic well-being experiences that feature spa therapies, fitness programs, healthy dining, and access to tranquil natural settings. For Indian professionals and entrepreneurs stressed by urban life, the promise of a short, restorative break just a few hours away by air can be especially appealing.
Positioning health and wellness alongside events, culture, and family travel helps Qatar diversify its tourism portfolio and mitigate seasonality. It also plays into broader trends among Indian travellers, who are showing growing interest in self-care, preventive health, and experiences that balance indulgence with well-being. As awareness of these offerings increases through trade shows and targeted campaigns, Qatar expects health and wellness to contribute meaningfully to its 2026 Indian visitor growth.
Targeting Metro India Today, Tier-II Cities Tomorrow
While Visit Qatar has made clear that all Indian travellers are welcome, its near-term focus is firmly on India’s major metropolitan areas. The strategy is to consolidate brand recognition in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, where awareness of Qatar as a leisure destination is already growing and where Qatar Airways has strong network coverage. Travel trade partnerships, consumer marketing, and participation in outbound travel fairs are concentrated in these urban centres.
By building a strong, aspirational brand presence in metro markets, Visit Qatar aims to create a halo effect that will eventually support demand from second- and third-tier cities. This approach mirrors broader patterns in outbound Indian tourism, where early adopters in metros influence travel choices in smaller cities through word-of-mouth, social media, and family networks. As Qatar’s reputation for safety, convenience, and value spreads, the expectation is that travellers from non-metro regions will follow.
The medium-term ambition, articulated by Visit Qatar officials, is to deepen outreach into India’s tier-II markets through roadshows, digital campaigns, and localized partnerships with regional travel agents. Over time, this could support both indirect traffic routed via the metros and direct or additional feeder services, especially if Qatar Airways or its partners adjust their network to tap into emerging demand.
This city-tiered strategy aligns with Qatar’s broader tourism vision for 2030, which targets 6 million international visitors and a double-digit contribution from tourism to national GDP. India’s growing middle class, expanding aviation connectivity, and cultural affinity with Gulf destinations mean that it will likely remain central to this narrative for the rest of the decade.
Visitor Growth, Hospitality Strength, and Economic Impact
The latest numbers from Qatar’s tourism authorities underscore a trajectory of steady, sustainable growth. More than 1.5 million international visitors arrived in the first quarter of 2025, driven by a mix of events, partnerships, and promotional campaigns. By the third quarter of that year, total arrivals had surpassed 3.5 million, representing a year-on-year increase of just over 2 percent and reinforcing Qatar’s resilience in a shifting global travel landscape.
Hospitality performance has tracked this upward curve. Hotels recorded average occupancy rates of around 71 percent in the first half of 2025, an improvement on the previous year, with total hotel nights sold rising by about 7 percent over the same period. This suggests that visitors are not only arriving in higher numbers but are also staying longer or choosing higher-value accommodation, both of which amplify tourism’s contribution to the local economy.
Economically, the tourism sector generated an estimated 55 billion Qatari riyals in 2024, equivalent to roughly 8 percent of national GDP. Policymakers view this as clear progress towards the 2030 target of 10 to 12 percent. Indian visitors are a notable part of this story, given their numbers and their propensity to spend across accommodation, shopping, dining, and experiences. Every percentage point of growth in Indian arrivals therefore carries significance for fiscal planning and private-sector investment.
Looking ahead to 2026, the combination of targeted growth from India, a reinforced events calendar, and a mature aviation ecosystem suggests that Qatar is on track to maintain its upward momentum. If the 6 to 7 percent growth target in Indian arrivals is achieved, it will not just represent another statistical uptick but a tangible validation of the country’s multi-pronged strategy of connectivity, content, and customer experience.
An Evolving Indian Travel Experience in Qatar
For Indian travellers themselves, the evolving Qatar story translates into more choice, greater convenience, and richer experiences. The growing number of flights operated by Qatar Airways and its competitive pricing strategies have already made it easier for families, couples, and solo travellers to contemplate a long weekend or short holiday in Doha that might previously have been reserved for Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
On arrival, visitors encounter a destination that has invested heavily in infrastructure and experiences since the World Cup. Cultural districts, waterfront promenades, and desert activities sit alongside luxury malls and traditional souqs, catering to a wide spectrum of tastes and budgets. Families, in particular, find the compact scale and high safety standards reassuring, while younger travellers are drawn to nightlife, dining, and live entertainment options that continue to multiply.
For many Indians using Qatar as a stopover, the promise of an unforgettable travel experience lies in how easily a transit can be upgraded into a mini-holiday. A two-night stop can include curated city tours, dune drives, dhow cruises, and immersive encounters with Qatari heritage, all bookended by the comfort of Qatar Airways’ cabins and the efficiency of Hamad International Airport. Over time, such experiences deepen emotional affinity with the destination and encourage repeat visits.
As 2026 unfolds, the interplay between Qatar’s growth ambitions, Qatar Airways’ network strength, and India’s outbound travel appetite appears set to define one of the Gulf’s most dynamic tourism corridors. If current plans hold, the 6 to 7 percent growth target for Indian arrivals will be more than a statistical milestone. It will be a stepping stone toward a new era of unstoppable connectivity and consistently memorable journeys linking Indian cities with the cultural and experiential heart of Qatar.