Qatar is world's fastest growing luxury market

There’s plenty of focus on the small Arabian Peninsula country, which has just 2 million inhabitants. Set to host the Football World Cup in 2022, Qatar also recently held the World Luxury Expo.

The country owns majority stakes in Italian fashion brand Valentino as well as the landmark department stores Harrods and Printemps in London and Paris. Qatar is also developing its own luxury label, Qela.

“Qataris are actually the biggest buyers of goods in the Middle East. But they often shop in Dubai,” explains Nicola Ko, senior luxury analyst at Ledbury Research.

“The Mall of Qatar is currently being built however, and with infrastructure to be improved in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup, the luxury industry has significantly more potential to grow in the country.”

According to Ko, another country to watch is Nigeria which is ranked 6th in the Global Luxury Hotspots list. With 32,000 millionaires in Nigeria, including large numbers of “hugely aspirational” male consumers, driving luxury demand, it’s an increasingly large market.