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Old 18th May 2018, 21:46
  #453 (permalink)  
edi_local
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Originally Posted by Heathrow Harry
Be interesting to find out how many sun 'n sand economy pax have ever heard of Qatar or know where it is. Dubai they all know but the rest of the area??????

needs massive advertising and deals until word of mouth takes over
There has been a huge push for advertising at CWL itself. A huge chunk of the terminal exterior has a QR wrap around. Not to mention several adverts inside, including huge, ceiling high wall prints and numerous smaller ads placed around the terminal. Not only that but the launch featured heavily on local TV and print media on the day. CWL has also heavily pushed QR on their own channels too. It is certainly being promoted, but perhaps there wasn't much done before the launch, other than inside the QR in-flight magazine. That's all I saw personally. But then I do not frequent Wales, so I can't speak for the local advertising drive pre-launch. I just happened to be in passing through CWL the day after the launch and noticed all the adverts and the big presence QR takes up in the terminal. They are certainly standing out.

Let's see how summer is. Keep in mind right now there are no school holidays for a good few weeks yet and people are not yet used to scheduled long haul from Wales. With the seats only being on sale for a few months prior to the launch, many people going to the places they may do so with QR will likely have booked a lot longer in advance with other carriers. Promoting or even expecting DOH to be a destination in itself is a bit of a stretch. Hardly anyone will go to DOH to holiday. I have had 2 (intentional) long stop overs there over the past 2 or so years, it's fine for a day or 2, but more than that and you're limited. But then DOH is not really sold as a holiday destination, even QR only promote it themselves as a stop over deal for a night or 2. The world cup may change that if more tourist orientated infrastructure is developed. That aside, I'm sure there are more than a few Welsh people working in Qatar who will now use this to come home, many of which may help sustain the J class seats. Cargo may develop into something big too with it cutting out a journey down the motorway from BHX or LON. It's far too early to judge the route IMO.
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