With less than two months left to go before the Nov. 20
World Cup
Qatar has been carefully preparing for the feast for a long time. According to the observation of frontline reporters, compared with previous years, the number of media and fans who traveled to Qatar to watch the game has significantly decreased.
I. Qatar's well-developed infrastructure
This month, the reporter accompanied China
male stepchildren
The national team traveled to Europe and West Asia for interviews, influenced by the 2022 Qatar
World Cup
At the invitation of the organizing committee, I attended the opening ceremony of the Lusail Stadium and stayed for five days. Although many people think of Qatar as a mixture of concrete and desert, my visit on the ground gave me the impression that the country is well prepared for the tournament.
Hardware facilities such as stadiums and training grounds, as well as transportation facilities such as highways and subways, needless to say. Facilities for fans to watch the game have also been perfected.
Take the hotel where this reporter is staying as an example: during the Club World Cup in December 2019, it took more than an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel, but this time it takes less than half an hour. Not only the road from four lanes in both directions to six lanes, part of the road is eight lanes, in addition, Doha City, a number of new roads, the airport to the hotel route to choose more, the traffic is more convenient. From the airport, you can also take the new metro directly to the hotel, saving even more time.
This reporter has experienced a program designed for
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Newly built subway. From the hotel to the Lusail Stadium, the bus takes 40 minutes, longer in case of traffic jams, etc., while the metro takes only 15 minutes.
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During this time, the subway is the most convenient way to get around. If you drive or rent a car, the parking lot is remote and relatively inconvenient. Even if three stadiums are not accessible to the subway for the time being, the organizing committee has arranged bus commuter buses, and the first choice is still to take the bus.
According to the organizing committee, the preparatory work is almost complete and only the "final touches" remain. I felt the same way during my stay in Doha. The new Qatar National Museum is beautiful, but it is still surrounded by construction sites and roads that need to be cleared. The same is true for the area around the Lusail Stadium, where construction debris is piling up and the new buildings are empty and in need of decoration.
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Before the opening, Qatar will likely focus on improving that image.
Undoubtedly, if one had visited Qatar in
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A revisit during this period will surely marvel at the sweeping changes in this country.
Second, the number of Chinese fans booking is small
Russia four years ago
World Cup
The number of tickets purchased by Chinese fans is among the top 10 in the world. If there is no epidemic, the number of fans traveling to Qatar to watch the game will undoubtedly exceed the number of Russian
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This is not only because of the ease of flying to Qatar from home, but also because the tournament's schedule is very fan-friendly.
Qatar may be small, but it has eight seats.
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The stadiums are not far apart. During the group stage, daily matches were played at three-hour intervals, with one hour between the end of one match and the kick-off of the next, which was organized in such a way as to allow full time to get to the next match.
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During the period, the organizing committee launched the activity of "which fans watch the stadium the most times", and the fans who watch the stadium the most times can return the ticket fee and get the organizing committee's heavy prize. It can be seen that Qatar, due to its small size, claims to be the most convenient place to watch football.
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One of the host countries.
For our fans at this stage, the biggest problem in traveling to Qatar to watch the game is not the tickets, but the flights. At present, direct flights from China to Doha are limited to Guangzhou and Hangzhou, and are a weekly round trip. Before the epidemic, nearly 10 cities in China have daily flights to and from Doha, in stark contrast.
The reporter learned that the famous domestic fan association "Dragon Team" had hoped to book the
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accommodations during the period and is expected to host more than 3,000 people. But with the
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As we approach, the latest news says that only about 200 people need to be prepared for accommodation. Until now, the viewing itinerary has not been finalized.
The small size of Qatar.
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With the large crowds during the period, accommodation became a problem for many fans to solve. But for our fans, the more realistic problem is the shortage of flights. First, there are too many uncertainties in the round-trip journey, and second, the cost is high.
Travel to Doha to watch
World Cup
Sai, can you return home smoothly? Nowadays, Chinese citizens holding Chinese passports are required to go through a quarantine process when returning home from abroad, so they can't just go back as soon as they want to. With this comes a significant increase in economic costs.
During the epidemic, many Chinese companies still sent their staff to Qatar to assist in completing the relevant construction work. For example, the newly opened subway, carriage glass windows by a Chinese subcontractor company responsible for the acceptance of the card put forward glass problems, China has to send more than 60 staff again to solve. The reporter learned that: if there is no epidemic, the round-trip ticket is only less than 10,000 yuan, and direct flights; and now, the round-trip ticket needs more than 40,000 yuan. Because there is no direct flight at this stage, the return trip to Egypt and other countries to transit, the need to strictly implement the relevant anti-epidemic policy, and stay in Egypt for a few days, food and lodging and other costs need to be taken care of. After returning to the country, still need to implement the relevant epidemic prevention policy, the company also needs to pay a considerable amount of money. This makes the cost of the whole work team increased significantly.
If companies have to pay these costs in order to do business, are fans still willing to pay these costs in order to watch football?
III. Strict but facilitated management of the epidemic in Qatar
During the interview in Doha, I felt that the organizing committee and even the Qatari government for the fans to watch the game, journalists interviews to provide the convenience based on epidemic prevention.
As a result of the epidemic, the procedures for entering Qatar are more complicated than before.
Qatar, which has a domestic vaccination rate of 96% and is ranked fifth in the world, requires all travelers entering the country to watch the games to have proof of New Crown vaccination, but not all countries' vaccines are recognized. Qatar purchased and stockpiled one million doses of the new crown vaccine to immunize foreign fans who had not completed the vaccination in their home countries.
Entrants are required to download the "Etruscan" APP on their cell phones, which is similar to the domestic vaccination code, fill in their personal information, submit it to the relevant Qatari authorities for review, and then display the green code; fans are required to provide proof of nucleic acid within 48 hours or proof of a negative antiplasma test within 24 hours prior to departure; and a variety of inspections will be carried out when they apply for their boarding passes.
However, after arriving at Doha airport, airport staff will not require entrants to show any relevant proof, the reporter only need to hand over their passports, and customs officers did not make any inquiries, but only allowed to enter fingerprints, stamped and then released. Qatar has also recently relaxed its strict rules on wearing masks, so fans from outside the country can at least realize the freedom of masks after flooding into Qatar.
On top of completing the basic vaccination process, Qatar has made it easy for everyone. Just order online in advance
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Tickets and approval to apply for a "Haya Card" through Qatar's designated website, similar to the one for Russia 2018.
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The "Fan Card" is available at the time of the visit. With this card, no additional visa is required.
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During this period, the card will allow foreign fans to travel unhindered at the public transportation level. Those who have the card can also bring three friends or family members who have not purchased tickets and enter Qatar with a minimal visa-on-arrival fee.
In the past, many foreign tourists, including Chinese, were able to obtain visas on arrival for Doha, but as of November 1, this policy has been temporarily abolished, with the aim of
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The population in Qatar was reduced during the period to allow more fans to enter the country to watch the games. In order to address the lack of hotel capacity, the Government of Qatar has allowed and encouraged its own people to open their homes to foreign tourists, subject to prior declaration.
Organized for the first time by a Middle Eastern country
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, it was inevitable that Qatar's neighbors would rub it in. During the interviews in Doha, neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Iran have announced an increase in the number of daily flights between them and Doha. It takes less than an hour to fly to Doha from these countries, which have also implemented a 60-day visa-free policy to fans who have already purchased tickets and more. For fans, whether they are arranging accommodation or traveling, they have more choices and are more open.
A day before the official opening of the Lusail Stadium, Qatar announced a temporary measure: the reopening of the former Doha International Airport. After the opening of Hamad International Airport in 2014, the original Doha International Airport was transformed into an airport for the landing and taking off of the royal family's private jets or VIP business jets, as well as serving as a landing and taking off airport for the air force. This time, in order to facilitate the entry of fans from neighboring countries to watch the tournament, starting from September 15, flights of low-cost airlines from the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain will no longer take off and land at Hamad International Airport, and all of them will be switched to the old Doha International Airport. The old airport is closer to downtown Doha, making it easier to move around.
Everything Qatar does is to fill the stadiums to capacity, which unfortunately has little to do with our fans.
in Qatar
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Having traveled to Qatar no fewer than 20 times to cover the 10-year preparatory process, I am well aware that this year's session of the General Assembly will be the first of its kind in Qatar.
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There is no lack of "Chinese elements" in the tournament. In addition to the gold sponsors, there are also more Chinese elements in the
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in the details. Almost every
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The stadiums are all associated with China, such as the Lusail Stadium, which was designed and built by a Chinese company, the first time a Chinese company had ever built a stadium.
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Final venue. The Doha 974 Stadium consists of 974 shipping containers, which are entirely of Chinese origin and were produced by a company in Yangzhou.
Therefore, we might be less pessimistic: China
male stepchildren
absent
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China
fan (ball sports)
absent
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But China was not absent.
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