<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>With deluxe match packages selling for thousands of dollars and five-star hotels doing a brisk trade, a sheen of glamour coats Qatar's World Cup despite football's working-class roots.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A penchant for luxury in the energy-rich Gulf state, which has one of the world's highest GDPs per head, has rubbed off on an unusually high-end edition of a tournament for the masses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're able to spring $4,950 for a VIP ticket to a group game, you can enjoy drinks, a six-course meal and entertainment at a lounge overlooking the halfway line at Lusail Stadium, north of Doha.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those with bottomless budgets in the resource-rich region have attractive accommodation options too, with one third-party site offering $4,000-a-night hotel rooms and $26,000 for a "head of state" suite -- with a 30-night minimum stay.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Things are a little different for ordinary fans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cheaper options include a steel bed in a shared room in the semi-desert near the capital at $84 a night, or accommodation on docked cruise ships from $179 to $800.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stadium crowds will include Qatar's migrant labourers, who were offered some tickets at 40 riyals ($11) to watch a sport whose players and core supporters are traditionally blue-collar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, the onus on "premium" experiences has left some fans cold.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's clear that there's a focus on a type of premium tourism, but the vast majority that go to a World Cup are middle-class," Evain told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"They're not the sort of people who can afford to stay on a cruise liner at $5,000 a week."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- 'Solution is to cancel' -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The hordes of ticketless fans that usually descend on a World Cup will be reduced in number, as only ticket holders and up to three guests each can enter Qatar during the November 20 - December 18 tournament.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many supporters will stay elsewhere in the Gulf and board the estimated 100-200 World Cup shuttle flights a day from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even those options do not come cheap.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Dubai, an hour's flight away and expected to be a major destination, an official World Cup package costs $1,500 for four nights in a shared room, including one return flight to Doha but no match tickets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Qatar World Cup is at least compact, with all eight stadiums in and around Doha -- eradicating the cross-country travel needed at previous editions such as Brazil 2014 or Russia 2018.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The problem with the World Cup in Qatar is that there are very few alternatives," said Evain.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"At a World Cup in Brazil or Russia, you can take a train, hire a car, stay 200 kilometres (120 miles) away or come just for the day of the match.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"None of that is possible in Qatar. Either you can't find accommodation or accommodation is too expensive," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"People are looking for a solution and for quite a few people the solution is to cancel, because they can't afford this sort of budget."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- High-end experiences -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, Sue Holt, executive director of Expat Sport, the UAE agent for the official World Cup package provider, said there was a range of accommodation "to suit most budgets".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States, Britain, France, Mexico, China and India were among the countries where fans were showing most interest in packages for the UAE, she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Sports tourists generally tend to be older and travel in groups, which can be families, friends or sporting groups," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Part of the appeal of this type of travel is that it is a collective, shared experience watching your favourite team or player together."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These supporters "will include people who have never ventured to this region before", added Holt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Robert Mogielnicki, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, hosting the World Cup is about "prestige" for Qatar, a monarchy of just 2.8 million people, overwhelmingly expatriate workers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"What the Qataris don't want to happen is get stuck with an oversupply of tourism infrastructure for a segment of tourists unlikely to be a regular, consistent presence in the country," he said, explaining the limited options.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I suspect that the Qataris will keep looking to attract wealthier tourists from elite circles," added Mogielnicki, who is also adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University and George Washington University.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Lots of the momentum behind regional tourism projects, especially in Saudi Arabia, does seem to focus on high-end, luxury experiences these days." AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>