(Lonely and only overlooking the Lucerde Stadium)
Author丨Li Jingyun
Editor丨Li Yanxia
Photo by Li Jingyun
If Qatar has never hosted a World Cup, I believe it. This is the first feeling I felt after I got off the plane.
Doha airport is as clean and tidy as ever. It has only been half a year since the end of the World Cup, but there are no posters or commemorative paintings here, as if all the imprints of the World Cup are gone.
This is true not only at the airport, but also in downtown Doha. Aside from the stage set up in the sea for the opening fireworks display and the sporadic statues of mascots, there is hardly anything you can see that you will remember about the World Cup.
"The World Cup venues should be closed at present," told the author that the author wanted to see the venues, and Mr. D, a senior manager of a large local organization, reluctantly told the author.
Mr. D said that in addition to the new city of Lucer, where the Luceris Stadium is located, it is the 974 Stadium in Doha Harbour, these venues are distinctive, and some people who come to Qatar will go to see them; However, Qatar does not seem to have any consideration of using the World Cup to promote tourism, nor has it heard of organizing ticketed tours.
Considering that the author's mood is quite urgent, Mr. D quickly arranged the vehicle. He bluntly said, "After calculating it, Qatar really can't make up a day's itinerary."
True to his words. In fact, my trip to Qatar ended in just four hours.
The scale of Lucerneville's Neuestadt is impressive, and the variety of buildings in its splendor is breathtaking. The Lucerde Stadium is like an Arabian basket, a golden shallow plate, beautiful and spectacular, but lacking a core thing; Person. The World Cup venues are closed, the rail transit station is empty, the towering buildings are only the facades cleaned up, but not finished, and the beautiful hotel does not seem to have opened. That is, in the 974 Stadium in the old city with a large flow of people, the container body of the façade has not been dismantled, but it is already outside the isolation network of several heavy irons, and it can only be overlooked.
"It's like blowing a gust of wind and it's gone," Da Rui said of the impact of the World Cup on Qatar. Da Rui has been in Qatar for 18 years, and as the most senior expatriate leader, his evaluation is probably from many local Qataris.
(New building in Lucerneust)
(Crescent Hotel Lussell-Neustadt)
(974 football stadium composed of 974 containers)
To say change, of course, it is not completely absent. However, it's not about landmarks, it's not about running tourism. Da Rui feels that Qataris are actually aware of a lot when they see their sports performance as the center of the world.
Historical Qatar, full of yellow sand and seawater, before the large-scale development of oil and gas, had nothing but as a distribution center for the slave trade. Today, the Qatari government has also protected the old fortress of the slave trade and established the "Slave Memorial" as part of Qatar's history. Qatar is extremely courageous to face its own black history.
However, Qatar may need to think more about the future.
"Actually, Qatar's real advantage is that it has more money," Da Rui laughed.
Although it is a joke, this answer is serious.
Qatar is the richest country in the world, thanks to natural gas fields under its territorial waters and oil under the desert. Qatar has more than 400,000 citizens, but has the world's largest natural gas field and 2.5 billion tons of proven oil reserves. Abundant resources bring large capital reserves, which is essentially Qatar's resource endowment advantage. Da Rui concluded that the Qataris see very clearly, after the World Cup, everyone knows more about you and how to pull you to invest, which must change.
(Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei)
(Looking at Doha New City)
Standing on the steps of the Museum of Islamic Art outside the Old City of Doha, a great masterpiece designed by I.M. Pei, and looking back at both sides of Doha Bay, Qatar's core assets are almost immediately visible. Qatar Gas Limited, Qatar Crude Oil Limited, Qatar Energy Limited on one side of the Gulf, Qatar National Bank, Al Jazeera, plus Qatar Airways on the other side, these are all first-class assets of Qatar.
However, the average person does not know the global status of Qatar National Bank, which is not only the largest bank in West Asia and Africa, with assets of nearly $240 billion, but also one of the world's highest-rated banks serving 31 countries.
From Qatar Bank to Qatar Airways, it is the achievement of Qatar's investment. In Da Rui's view, this is Qatar's comparative advantage. "Qataris position themselves as an investment hub, and they really want to further become a global investment highland," Da Rui concluded, adding that the whole world can come to Qatar to raise funds and look for investment opportunities together, which is probably a change that Qatar has not seen before.
(Looking back at Old Doha)
"In fact, for Chinese companies, this is a real opportunity, but this change is only a trend at present, and we still lack the corresponding way, which requires setting up platforms and channels to achieve the combined force of financial integration," Da Rui picked up the beer bottle and poured a glass for the author, in fact, the author has traveled to many places in the Middle East, have had drinking experience, this is the first time in Qatar.
This is also a change.
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