A few eyebrows did a bicycle kick towards the ceiling when Qatar won its bid to host soccer's Fifa 2022 World Cup. But the MICE game is on for the Gulf emirate.

Event planners and travel industry executives gained insights into Doha's plans when its tourism chiefs visited Hong Kong recently. Qatar Tourism Authority chairman Ahmed Abdullah al-Nuaimi was keen to seal deals with construction companies and investors from Hong Kong and the mainland.

'We are not looking for mass tourism, unlike other cities in the region. We are reaching out to the business traveller and corporate leisure market,' al-Nuaimi says.