Qatar floats the idea of island hotels for World Cup
Qatar is considering developing floating hotels, luxury villas and a water park off the coast of Doha to house the influx of visitors that will need accommodation during the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament.
Oryx Island would be developed by a local firm partly owned by the Qatari government.
Electric vehicles, water taxis, ferries and private boats would transport 25,000 visitors from the hotels to the mainland.
Qatar is believed to be considering calls to host the 2022 finals during the winter period amid fears over the scorching temperatures close to 120 degrees in the Qatari summer.
Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Qatar 2022 World Cup committee, insists that the nation is planning for a June tournament but admits it is prepared to alter the schedule.
“I’ve had many people come to Qatar during June and it wasn’t the horror story people expected, that they would burst in flames. It’s not Armageddon,” he said.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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