Qatar has awarded Europe’s largest hotel group Accor to manage apartments and villas that will house fans visiting Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, the organizing committee said on Thursday.

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy said in a statement that it signed an agreement with Accor to run operations and services across the country’s real estate portfolio through the end of 2022.

Accor will provide staff to manage and operate more than 60,000 rooms in apartments and villas scattered across the Gulf Arab state, a separate Qatari official told Reuters.

The World Cup is expected to attract 1.2 million visitors to Qatar during the 28-day event, which kicks off in November.

But Qatar has fewer than 30,000 hotel rooms in operation, according to data published in August by the Qatar National Tourism Authority.

Qatar wants to allow only vaccinated fans to attend 2022 World Cup

Qatar is home to 2.9 million people, 85 percent of whom are foreigners. As the world’s largest producer of liquified natural gas.

Qatar has among the highest per capita incomes in the world. (Reuters/NAN)