Fans enjoy Chinese room service at Qatar World Cup
Chinese-made shipping container-style rooms are helping alleviate the pressure on World Cup organizers in Qatar by offering fans a budget accommodation choice.
A village for visiting soccer fans in Doha, with 6,000 such cabins, is targeted at customers on a lower budget. The 3.1 square-kilometer site can house up to 12,000 people, and has a metro station, bus stop, temporary restaurant and a convenience store, according to Associated Press.
Each cabin is designed to accommodate one or two people, and contains basic furniture including beds, nightstands, a small table and chair, air conditioning, a toilet and a shower. Compared with Qatar's hotels, the fan village is a relatively cheap option, with each cabin costing around $200 a night. At a smaller site further out from central Doha, some rooms are priced at $80, AP reported.
The commute between the fan village and the nearest World Cup venue, Al Thumama Stadium, takes approximately 20 minutes by car.
According to China Central Television, the container-style cabins are made in China, mostly by factories in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. Chinese companies have provided about 10,000 cabins to Qatar World Cup organizers.
"The components of the cabins were shipped to Qatar, after which the local workers assembled the cabins like building Lego houses. It only takes about four hours for two or three experienced workers to finish assembling each cabin," said CCTV reporter Zhao Yuanfang.
Like many soccer fans who have traveled to Qatar, Chinese fans have had to search hard for a room in the country. He Sheng traveled from Guangzhou, Guangdong, but decided against staying in a cabin.
