Originally Posted by
lowfareair
Short-sighted policy. We have an 8-hour layover next week and were going to go into town for a few hours for some local shopping at the souq and potentially dinner, but now we probably aren't and it's not the money, it's not knowing what immigration will be like with this policy.
Local businesses (Uber/taxi drivers, restaurants, etc) lose out from this scheme well it sounds like a couple of Qatari health insurance providers end up making money.
I booked a 25 hour layover in Doha just to see it on a long haul trip. Wouldn't have bothered with the hotel, transport, meals and costs of sightseeing if I'd know this was going to be brought in.