During the football spectacle and the whole soccer extravaganza, people have chosen to stay in the Golden Emirate rather than Doha and the reasons can be many but a few apparent ones are less desirable recreational activities and tourism facilities in Qatar. The FIFA World Cup 2022 host country is reputed to be conservative regarding attire, drinking habits, and hotel availability. As a result, hordes and cascades of fans have headed for the glamorous, colourful, and golden emirate. Dubai is the biggest winner, with more than 90 more flights a day being offered to the Qatari capital, Doha, to fly fans and enthusiasts in on game days.
Digging into reasons for Dubai being top choice of FIFA fans
According to reports, football spectators and fans have favoured the energetic UAE. They have decided to travel daily to Qatar on the shuttle flights that connect the two countries during the event. Fans from the participating countries have chosen Dubai over Doha because of its more laid-back ambience and exciting night-life. The supporters believed that Dubai is the destination foreign visitors would most like to visit if they could not stay in Qatar. Dubai is a safe place that adheres more to Western standards and, above all, is the most alluring. Are you a FIFA fan and ready for The Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022? If Not, Here Is Your Guide!
More room, better facilities
The number of hotel rooms in Qatar was a source of concern in the weeks leading up to the most awaited FIFA World Cup 2022. A contentious last-minute U-turn to restrict alcohol in and around the stadiums caused many spectators to hunt for alternate accommodations. Recently, Dubai has been bustling with fans from all over the world, which has increased the number of visitors looking for winter sun. In the most recent quarter, passengers exceeded 6 million per month, breaking pre-pandemic records, according to data provided by Dubai real estate agents.
Real estate agents in Dubai also claimed to observe high demand in the emirate and that they anticipated FIFA World Cup 2022 travellers would prefer passing through Dubai. As a result, tourists, hospitality, Dubai real estate, and many other businesses will benefit from this competition.
Dubai – The key entryway
The Dubai Sports Council stated that the city projected an additional 1 million visitors during the event, though precise numbers still need to be made public for the FIFA World Cup 2022. The emirate has been referred to as “the key entryway” to the World Cup by fans and tourism sector professionals, who also expected it to draw more visitors than Qatar.
Officials estimate that fewer than ten thousand fans are visiting the emirate to attend games in Qatar, which would result in a 3% increase in hotel occupancy. Up to 90% of Dubai’s 3.5 million residents are expatriates who live in the city, and many match tickets have been sold to them.
Even though it’s too early to tell how the World Cup will affect the area, there are many more people looking for hotel rooms than last year. Many of the spectators who opted to use Dubai as their home base while travelling to Qatar or as their primary location to experience the tournament atmosphere fully have had the chance to not only take advantage of the city’s opulent lifestyle but also to visit its top tourist destinations.
Qatar losing thousands of FIFA World Cup 2022 fans to The Golden Emirate!
During the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 in 2022, thousands of soccer fans opt to stay in Dubai rather than Doha. Qatar is unable to supply the 60,000 hotel rooms that FIFA estimates require to meet the athletic spectacle’s demand. The Gulf state, which presently has just roughly 22,000 keys, would only be able to sustain demand for up to 42,000 rooms, even based on “aggressive expansion” of 9–12 percent yearly until 2022. The government’s recent declaration that cruise ships will provide 5000–6000 rooms offshore would partially help to make up the deficit. Another 1000–2000 beds might be made available via movable, temporary housing.
However, most of the vacant rooms would draw guests from beyond Doha, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat. Many are likely cluster with their families in cities like Dubai (which already has the hotel keys), fly into Doha for the game, and stay for one or two nights before or after. Qatar Supreme Committee 2022 Hassan Al Thawadi forecasts that 1 million people would attend the FIFA World Cup 2022, more than three times the 310,000 foreign tourists FIFA reported made their way to South Africa for the 2010 game, but less than the more than 2 million who attended the event in Germany in 2006. Due to their highly developed tourism infrastructure and range of recreational choices, nearby towns like Dubai would also draw World Cup tourists.
Strong infrastructure’s influence
Some sources claim that the infrastructure for tourism and leisure can have an impact on supporters’ decisions on where to stay for the FIFA World Cup 2022. The tourist sector in Qatar could lose millions of dollars due to visitor churn or guests who stay for shorter periods. By 2030, the government wants to see 7 million tourists, up from 2.8 million in 2014. Comparatively, Dubai had 12 million residents in 2014; and now by 2022, after it hosted the World Expo 2020, that number has already increased to over 30 million.
FIFA propelling growth in Dubai Real Estate sector with short-term rentals
Do you know that FIFA World Cup visitors showing high interest in Dubai real estate projects? Experts in Dubai Real Estate claim that soccer enthusiasts are snatching up short-term rentals in the emirate to use as a home base while travelling to the 2022 FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, with some boasting a price tag of over $410,000 (AED1.5million) for the month-long soccer competition. Although Doha has made significant investments in infrastructure and hotel accommodations for the world’s largest sporting event, there is still a shortage, so many people are and will continue staying in nearby Gulf states for the tournament, which has already begun on November 21, and travel to and from Qatar for the games.
FIFA – A booming tourist season for Dubai
It spells a booming tourist season for the UAE, particularly Dubai. Demand for properties in Dubai has already increased. In November 2021, they started responding to inquiries about rental properties in Dubai during the World Cup. If you have purchased tickets for one-day returns on Qatar Air during the competition, prices start at about $1,200. (AED4,500 return). If that is already reserved, staying in Dubai will prove to be a very popular choice for fans throughout the tournament. Fans could expect to pay no less than $61,000 (AED225, 000) per month to rent a typical five-bed villa on the Palm Jumeirah and no less than $34,000 (AED125,000) per month to rent a property in the Jumeirah Islands.
These prices sound excessive, but if you consider that you are dealing with affluent clients, four double rooms in a five-star beach hotel would cost you a lucky $2,720 (AED10,000) per night, adding up to $81,690 (AED300,000), making the villa a decent value. Raffles The Palm charges roughly $68,000 (AED250, 000) for four bedrooms with two persons each for 27 nights (their maximum stay is 28), and The Retreat Palm MGallery by Sofitel currently has the lowest rate for 27 nights at $34,000. (AED125, 000). They also have four rooms at the Burj Al Arab, which are slightly more expensive, and a five-bedroom villa on Floor K for rent for $410,000 (AED1, 512, 000) for 27 nights. Real estate in Dubai is also expected to see a lot of activity.
Dubai real estate experiencing massive activity
Dubai real estate agents see similar increases in inquiries. The short-term rental industry has prospered over the past 24 months as COVID-19 observed a large number of clients seeking staycations or travellers seeking a home with solitude and a setting that was a little less crowded than the typical hotels. Simply said, everyone wants to be in Dubai. Thus, the World Cup in Qatar has also drawn a sizeable crowd. It is close to the World Cup and offers everything a wonderful vacation spot needs to have to offer. Only about 130,000 hotel rooms, cruise ships stationed outside Doha, and desert camp-sites are available in Qatar. The UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have become popular alternatives for travellers.
According to the property agents in Dubai, the initial pick-up has started, and they anticipate seeing strong demand in bookings from the UAE in the coming months. For many, the FIFA World Cup 2022 would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Around five to seven per cent (of the UAE’s population alone) has made reservations to watch their favourite teams and athletes live in action. Although according to the awaiting flight inventory from airline partners, consumers have been using charters and cruises, which they will continue doing
