Fake numbers or organizational failure; Why did the fans flee the Qatar World Cup?

Qatar received just over 765,000 visitors during the first two weeks of the World Cup, according to the organizers’ report, which fell short of the country’s projection of 1.2 million during the month-long event.

Fans flee to neighboring countries

The Guardian, a UK newspaper, confirmed that a big surge in visitor numbers was unlikely at this stage with only eight teams remaining in Doha, and eight games out of 64 in the tournament which began on 20 November. Organizers had previously set the peak period for international visitors to be 24-28 November during the busy group stage, with 32 teams playing four games a day, and a 7 December report prepared by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) which organizes the tournament, said that the first 17 days of the World Cup saw 765,859 international visitors, more than half of whom have now left.

The report recorded 1.33 million ticket holders for the match and 3.09 million tickets sold through the eight stadiums in Qatar for the tournament which ends on 18 December. A Qatari official who asked not to be named confirmed these numbers, which means that the vast majority of fans did not stay in Qatar and traveled to neighboring countries and were heading to Qatar to attend the games only, which reflects the extent of poor service provided to fans unlike Saudi Arabia and the Emirates which provided major and luxurious services at lower prices.

An Expensive List

The British newspaper said that the tournament in Qatar, the first to be held in the Middle East, is one of the most expensive tournaments in terms of tickets, hotels, drinks, and food. The drop in the number of international visitors to Qatar from what was originally expected led to an unexpected abundance of accommodations, but it also led to avoiding severe traffic congestion or headaches in Qatar, the smallest country in terms of population and area to host the World Cup.

It added that the Arab masses who attend the Arab national team matches in large numbers do not stay in Qatar but come from the neighboring countries of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and even Egypt. The Qatari official said, “With more than a week of competition remaining, a wave of new visitors started arriving from countries that reached the quarterfinals,” and it is expected that more visitors will flow to Qatar to participate in the popular games, after the state lifted the entry restrictions for citizens and residents of other Gulf countries.