Monaco of the Middle East by John Weich

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Four Seasons Hotel Doha

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Our Egyptian guide driving the gleaming white Toyota Land Cruiser turns onto the shoulder and halts abruptly before a road sign that designates, by use of an icon, camel crossing. The two Italian photographers in the back seat jump out and start snapping shots with no less than five cameras. Enormous petrol rigs rumble by on both sides of the road, carrying, somewhat predictably, the lifeline of the tiny Middle East emirate from the refineries to the shipping yards. The driver leans back in his seat and begins playing with his mobile phone, one of three. ‘I always stop here,’ he says to me. ‘The tourists like it a lot.’

‘Here’ is a desolate stretch of road about 30 miles south of Doha, the capital city of Qatar, which, thanks to an impending war with Iraq and the arrival of U.S. sources, has found itself in the international spotlight. Viewing the events of the last few months, it seems that Qatar has welcomed the U.S. presence much more enthusiastically than any other Gulf state. The Americans have awarded this largesse by converting Qatar’s Sayliyah military base into Central Command’s $58 million ‘forward deploy headquarters’. If it comes to war, Qatar will be one of the invasion’s nerve centers.

Yet, even before America’s arrival Qatar was riding a high of friendly-nation status among Western powers, if only because it is one of the few Middle East nations that seem to have everything under control. To America, Qatar is a voice of reason in rat's nest. To many of the tiny Gulf nation’s neighbors however, Qatar is recalcitrant opportunist. And they can site recent examples to prove it, namely the 1991 agreement with Iran for a fresh water pipeline and the 1995 agreement to supply Tel Aviv with natural gas, making it the first country in the region to have open economic ties with Israel.

Qatar, a former British protectorate that attained independence 1971, is unquestionably one of the Middle East’s most peaceful and forward-thinking nations. Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family – and it’s a big family – has successfully stymied the rise of easily ignitable secularists and introduced a level of freedom rarely matched in the region. Qatari women, for example, are not required to cover their heads in public, though they tend to do so anyway. They are also permitted to drive, vote and even run for election. The greatest praise is reserved for the regime’s record on human rights and media freedom, best illustrated in its most famous – or infamous, depending on who you talk to – organ, the satellite TV station Al-Jazeera, the self-proclaimed CNN of the Arab world.

‘I can’t think of another country in the Middle East that would allow us so much freedom. Everything else in the Middle East is censured,’ says Al-Jazeera’s head of communications, Jihad Ali Ballout. ‘We’re happy we’re in a country that allows us the freedom to operate.’

Since usurping power from his father in 1995, the current emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, is ambitiously laying the groundwork that intends to make Qatar as much of a household name as Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain. It has the cash to at least make a start, thanks in part to oil but mostly to the world’s third largest supply of natural gas. In fact, the discovery of the enormous North Field natural gas field in the 1970s introduced Qatar, at least to investors, as an economic contender in the region. For the 150,000 Qatari, it bolstered the per capita GDP to European standards and gave rise to the phenomenal welfare state it is today. Judging by the few conversations I had with the Sudanese, Egyptians, Lebanese who enjoy the benefits of Qatar’s tax-free system, even the legions of immigrants, which make up approximately 65 percent of the population, are among the most content on earth.

Now, Qatar needs to find a niche to attain its targets for tourism and investment. The U.S. presence is hard to ignore, particularly when F16s are scraping yeah high above the Qatari sands at all hours of the day. But when I was in Doha in January newspaper headlines were as much focused on the imminent war as on the recently opened Winter Carnival and whether or not gusts would allow gratis hot air balloon rides. The Winter Carnival was one of the first large-scale events organized by the Qatar Tourism Board to date. To me it had the amateurish ring of a high-school fundraising event, but for Qatari it was the most exciting thing to happen to the city since the opening of the Middle East’s largest shopping mall. It took me three days to understand all the hype, much (but not all) of which was state-sponsored. There simply isn’t a whole lot do in Qatar. Like the English new towns and American suburbs that sprang up after the Second World War, the entertainment and infrastructure arrive only ones they warrant the investment.

Doha is a rather unattractive, whitewashed city with few monuments and tame traffic. As a tourist destination, the city trades almost entirely on its fair winter weather and its austere, relatively uncharted environs. Among Gulf states, only Dubai has succeeded in truly elevating itself into something more, though that ‘something more’ is a chintzy resort town. So it seems only logical that Doha should aspire to become a second Dubai. Almost everyone I spoke to categorically refuted the premise. ‘Qatar wants to develop more gradually than Dubai. That’s why there are no three- or four-star hotels right now,’ says Qatar Airways manager of loyalty marketing. The CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, is more categorical. ‘We have no intention of becoming a second Dubai.’

Doha’s dreamy suburban complacency might be a bit boring, but you can’t accuse it of targeting the riffraff of tourism. Most hotels are too prohibitive for the backpackers and adventure tourists and tend to cater to either businessmen or upscale leisure travelers. For years the best bed in town was at the city’s opulent landmark, the Doha Sheraton, built in time for the 1984 Gulf Summit. In the last few years Inter-Continental and Ritz-Carlton have opened up enormous business-leisure fusion hotels with private beaches on the Arabian Gulf. The Ritz-Carlton is particularly monolithic and mirrors the country’s ambitions all on its own; built on a man-made island, it has 384 rooms, two large swimming pools, tennis courts, a full-fledged spa and a private beach. Plans for a Four Season were well underway before negotiations fell through; apparently Hyatt has optioned the high-rise property currently being constructed in the central business district.

For the kinetic traveler, Doha is a two-day town, preferably during the winter months as the summer heat can reach 50C and humidity 90 percent. Its main appeal is geography: it is just a six-hour flight from Frankfurt and its beaches are well groomed and uncluttered. Where it lacks is in the area of attractions. In town, the most exciting venues are the Qatari National Museum situated on the beautifully kept corniche, a number of subdued souks and a shopping mall. Grown fat on petroleum and natural gas, few Qatari see the need to weave their traditional blankets or needlepoint nomadic Bedouin tents anymore.

As a result, virtually all the products on offer are imported: bananas from the Fillipines, dates from Saudi Arabia, oranges from Turkey, tents from Pakistan, plastic paraphernalia from China, spices from India, even the alfalfa for the camels are trucked in from neighboring Gulf states. The only products indigenous to Qatar are low-grade pearls, the sad reminders of its once renowned pearl empire, pet falcons (carried around in cars like dogs) and single-humped camels. You don’t need to visit Qatar for the shopping. Even the largest souks are drab settlements compared to the dynamic tented cities within Fez and Marrakech.

On the other hand, Qatari hawkers have yet to be corrupted by the temptations of tourism, and a trip through one of the many shopping areas can be a surprisingly calm experience, even though you’ll probably end up leaving with nothing. Not only do the salesmen make little effort to lure you into their stores, but their short-changing you is entirely out of the question.

For a taste of Qatar’s Bedouin roots you’ve got to get outside of Doha, namely to the camel races in Al-Shahhainiya and the spectacular sand dunes just beyond Mesaieed. Camel races are standard fare in the Middle East, but Al-Shahhainiya warrants a look, if only to watch the luxury SUVs chasing pedigree camels around the 18km track. Moreover, the 40-minute drive to the multipurpose stadium takes you past the ornate walled palaces of Qatar’s ruling oligarchy. The sand dunes and the heavily marketed inland sea are unique to Qatar alone. The myriad Toyota Land Cruisers that habitually criss-cross the terrain can be disrupting, but it is reassuring to know that they are not all rustling tourists; a large portion of the populace spends their full moons in pitched tents amidst the dunes.

Much like Icelandair, national carrier Qatar Airways sees enormous potential as an international fly-through hub. A great place for passengers to spend a few days en route to Singapore, Sydney and the Maldives. To achieve these ends, Qatar Airways operates one of the newest fleets in the sky and is aggressively expanding the number of its aircraft and routes as well as Doha’s airport capacity. ‘By the end of the decade we will be a major international hub,’ says CEO Akbar Al Baker from his large airport office. In this it will be competing with the swank Dubai hub run by the Emirates, with whom Qatar Airways has a ‘healthy competition.’

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani is actively politicking for international attention and recognition. The rising business complexes, the growing number of hotels, the perfectly paved streets and verdant roundabouts, many with pro-wildlife and anti-pollution billboards, have given the city some much-needed urban verisimilitude. But the emir’s most convincing initiatives are sportive; like Prince Albert of Monaco, al-Thani is a sports fanatic and seems keen on turning Qatar into a Gulf principality of the Monaco sort. The Qatar Masters at the colonial-looking Doha Golf Club, a virtual oasis in the midst of arid flatlands a few miles outside of town, lures some of the game’s leading contenders each year. Similarly, tennis celebrities find it hard to pass up the US$1 million prize purse at the annual Qatar open. In addition to hosting major international squash and athletics events, this February the country also organized the second edition of the Tour de Qatar cycling event.

‘Qatar has the largest number of stadiums per capita in the world,’ says Qatar Airways’s Gregory Epps. The emir seems keen on filling them in spectacular ways. A week before my visit he flew in the entire AC Milan team on his private Airbus 319 (kitted out solely with 36 first class seats) for a match against the Qatari national football team. And just a few weeks ago local club Al Sadd of the Qatari first division signed Brazilian football great Romario to a short-term deal just in time for the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Champions League.

The most serious sporting initiative to date will take place in 2006 when Doha hosts the Asian Games. Qatar is treating the event like the Olympics and using it as a major impetus for attracting investment and carrying out major infrastructure improvements, such as new roads, a major highway and a new airport terminal three times the size of the current hall.

In the meantime, Qatar remains eerily quiet in the face of imminent war. Few of the tens of thousands of expats that are working in Doha and its environs have abandoned their posts for safer quarters. And the tourists sipping cocktails by the pool at the Ritz-Carlton don’t seem much bothered either. When I asked my driver what he thought of the war and the U.S. presence he first looked behind him and then said, ‘A thousand troops would have been better. Ten thousand is like we’re daring Saddam to acknowledge us. He’s never had any reason to notice us before.’ Qatar’s days of anonymity are over.