International Volunteers’ Perceptions and Experiences of Qatar From the FIFA Arab Cup on the Road to 2022: The Case of Branding Qatar as a Sport Tourism Destination

Sport mega-events have the power to reshape the host towns and countries and shape the tourism perspective because they provide an opportunity to develop tourism-related infrastructure and market the destination to a global audience. This is no different for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with Qatar being the first country host in the Middle East to host this mega-event. While the primary target audience is the international tourists who will be visiting Qatar for World Cup 2022 and their unique experiences, limited research has been conducted on the perceptions and experiences of international volunteers of mega sporting events. Therefore, this research fills the gap present in the literature. This research aims to identify international volunteers’ perceptions and experiences of Qatar as a host destination for World Cup 2022 from their volunteering journey and tourist experiences at the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 held in Qatar. The data was collected through semi-structured online interviews carried out via Zoom. Using a convenience sampling method, the study involved 25 participants who were chosen from the international volunteers who traveled to Qatar for the Arab Cup. Results and conclusions were derived based on analyzing the data using the reflexive thematic analysis approach. Through the thematic analysis, the researcher was able to understand that the international volunteers perceive Qatar as a sport tourist destination based on their experiences in the country during the FIFA Arab Cup 2021. Furthermore, the interview analysis established how aware the international volunteers are of what Qatar has to offer to its sport fans. Overall, the successful delivery of the Arab Cup is considered a milestone of rebranding Qatar as a sport tourism destination on the road to 2022 and beyond.