I agree this is not the right step for the Qatari government to take, linc. Especially when it is enforced suddenly on a short notice.
Whether their reason is for reciprocity or as a means to stop the "visa-runs", or for security, I can only give my opinion. Only the Qatari government would know why this has been enforced all of a sudden.
No amount of tourism is going to help improve the image that Arabs and Muslims hold in the US and EU, because not a lot of them travel. ( Did you know less than 20% of the US population holds a passport ? It might even go down to as low as 7% if some figures are to be believed.) They believe, what is represented by the media.
There is no real tourism in this country at the present. If and when, there is a reason for tourism - like Asian games or Fifa 2022( don't think this will happen :P), they would probably relax the visa requirements.
Bleu, I'm not sure about the figures, but if GDP per capita, included everybody, then that just makes the case for the Qatari Passport holders stronger. They clearly have no reason to mis-use the visa on arrival and illegally migrate to a country which is lower in GDP per capita, than their own.
I agree this is not the right step for the Qatari government to take, linc. Especially when it is enforced suddenly on a short notice.
Whether their reason is for reciprocity or as a means to stop the "visa-runs", or for security, I can only give my opinion. Only the Qatari government would know why this has been enforced all of a sudden.
No amount of tourism is going to help improve the image that Arabs and Muslims hold in the US and EU, because not a lot of them travel. ( Did you know less than 20% of the US population holds a passport ? It might even go down to as low as 7% if some figures are to be believed.) They believe, what is represented by the media.
There is no real tourism in this country at the present. If and when, there is a reason for tourism - like Asian games or Fifa 2022( don't think this will happen :P), they would probably relax the visa requirements.
Bleu, I'm not sure about the figures, but if GDP per capita, included everybody, then that just makes the case for the Qatari Passport holders stronger. They clearly have no reason to mis-use the visa on arrival and illegally migrate to a country which is lower in GDP per capita, than their own.