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The organizers of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar had launched an accommodation platform with a statement that says that supporters who have tickets will be prioritized to be allowed to book accommodation for the upcoming football event. This is great news for Singapore supporters who have already purchased their World Cup tickets beforehand.
Accommodation portal
The World Cup organizers have released an online portal where attendees can register to apply for accommodation near the venues where the international football matches will take place. The portal says that ticket-holders will be a priority, which means that attendees who will travel to Qatar that has no valid accommodation tickets will not be able to obtain a place to stay.
Qatar is expected to receive more than one million attendees during the duration of the World Cup qualifiers that will be held from November 21 to December 18 at the end of this year. A huge chunk of these attendees are from Singapore and other neighboring nations.
During Phase One of the ticket sales earlier this year in January, FIFA, the world football authority, stated that they had received at least 17 million applications, in which the accommodations will be granted using a lottery draw.
Accommodation options
According to Omar al-Jaber, the Executive Director of Accommodation at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), the organizers of the competition, he confirmed the prices will start from 111 Singaporean dollars (SGD) following the launch of the portal on Wednesday.
“The guests of World Cup 2022 will be able to reserve accommodation by utilizing the booking platform which can provide diverse options such as villas, flats, and cruise ships,” said al-Jaber.
“There are also fan villages available in four different places in the country. There will be a lot of accommodation options for the supporters available such as vacation houses, Airbnb rooms, and also, they can stay with their family and friends,” he added.
It was reported by an official of the SC that the organizers have reserved at least 80 percent of the hotels and accommodation alternatives all over the country which will be provided to the ticket-holders.
Rising concerns
Considering that a lot are expecting a huge surge in the fans and tourists that will visit the country once the worldcup22 starts, there are doubts that Qatar will be able to handle the accommodation of the fans of such a huge international event. Particularly, the Singapore fans without tickets who travel to Qatar to experience the culture in the country are expected to increase in number, too.
According to the statement of the organizers earlier this year, there will be 130,000 rooms available for the one million fans that are expected to come in the 28-day period of the competition. They said that there will be no shortage of accommodation during the event.
Although, al-Jaber didn’t mention if the SC is sure there is enough accommodation for those fans that will arrive in Qatar. However, he directed the supporters to go to the platform as early as possible so that they could book an accommodation for availability and a better price with a valid ticket.
Later, an official of the SC verified that the priority of the organizers at the moment to accept the accommodation applications are those who are ticket holders.
“We assume that most of the supporters that will visit in the remainder of the competition will stay with their loved ones or friends. Also, the compressed nature of the tournament space would also mean that the teams and supporters only need one accommodation,” the SC stated.
Conclusion
Ever since Qatar was announced as the new host country of the World cup FIFA 22, critics had been concerned about the capability of the country to handle such a huge event. However, the organizers are confident that there will be plenty of accommodation during the event.