By Andrew Warshaw
February 8 - The 2022 World Cup will boost tourism to Qatar by 10 per cent according to Hassan Al-Thawadi (pictured), secretary general of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee.Al-Thawadi made the claim, based on the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while addressing delegates at the Qatar Projects 2012 conference in Doha.
"Between 1981 and 1987, the number of tourist arrivals to Barcelona was fairly stagnant," he said.
"Barcelona's journey has been an extremely successful one with the city now boasting one of the highest occupancy rates in Europe with approximately 7 million visitors each year."
Al-Thawadi drew parallels between the Middle East and Africa in terms of how the Qatar 2022 World Cup would bring the Middle East closer together despite the scourge of civil unrest – just as it did Africa in 2010.
"This was very noticeable when Ghana was the only African team to qualify for the knock-out rounds," he said.
"South Africans of all colours and creeds united with the entire African nation and gave their full backing to the Ghanaian team.
"The World Cup was Africa presenting a unified face to the world."
Many including UEFA President Michel Platini, who voted for Qatar for 2022, favour the tournament being switched to the winter, though FIFA says it cannot authorise this unless a request comes directly from the Gulf state itself.
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