Soccer World Cup in Qatar
Not enough hotel rooms: fans should sleep in tents
There was actually enough time to prepare – but the World Cup host country Qatar has now apparently noticed that there are not enough hotel rooms in the emirate
© Christian Charisius / DPA
Almost half a year before the World Cup, the host country Qatar apparently noticed that there were far too few hotel rooms for the expected fans in the desert state. That’s why the organizing committee supports the idea of accommodating fans in tents in the desert.
It almost sounds like a bad joke: The football World Cup will take place in Qatar in just under half a year and now the host country has apparently noticed that one or the other fan will also be traveling to the games and will be happy to sleep in the same bed would sleep. But the country with its almost three million inhabitants only has about 100,000 hotel rooms – far too few for an internationally attended football tournament.
But necessity is known to be the mother of invention. That is why the organizing committee of the World Cup supports the idea of accommodating fans in tents, as confirmed by committee member Omar al-Jaber. “This is real camping,” he tries to make the situation palatable to World Cup tourists. “We should also let people experience the desert in a Bedouin-style tent.”
Half a year before the World Cup: Qatar plans to accommodate fans in tents
Whether that makes sense given the temperatures prevailing in Qatar is another matter. Air conditioning is not common in tents. With temperatures of up to 30 degrees, which one has to reckon with in Qatar even in winter, this can be very uncomfortable for overnight guests. Not to mention regular sandstorms.
Whether useful or not, tent cities alone will not be enough to provide a place to sleep for the thousands of football fans expected in the emirate. That’s why the organizing committee is pursuing two other plans: On the one hand, some fans should be able to sleep on cruise ships docking in the port of Doha, on the other hand, they should be able to sleep in friendly neighboring countries.
In order to get the spectators into the stadiums on time for kick-off, Qatar is planning an airlift. Around 160 shuttle flights are scheduled to take off on match days. It is questionable how the desired climate neutrality of the tournament is to be maintained with such.
Sources:t-online.de, Klimatabelle.info
