DOHA: The global economic gloom has come as a blessing in disguise for many cyber cafes in the city as more and more people are frequenting them, mainly to forward their resume for jobs. If trade sources are to be believed, a vast majority of those coming to the cafes are those who have come to Doha having lost their jobs in Dubai, Manama and other major cities in the GCC region. The visitors are staying with friends and relatives here and are desperately looking for placement, an official from an Internet cafe told this newspaper yesterday asking not to be named. He did not want the name of his outlet to be mentioned either.
“Our interaction with most customers suggests they are outsiders and have been attracted here since they know that Qatar has not been affected by the global recession as much as other Gulf states have been,” said the official. “From their faces, too, we can tell that they are outsiders, for we have regular local clientele and most of them we know personally.” According to another cyber cafe official, their business has grown by no less than 10 percent since the onset of the global recession and most people frequenting it walk in with flash drives wanting print-outs of their resume to produce at interviews for jobs. The rate per hour for using the Internet in most cafes across the city is QR5, but they charge QR1for each print-out. “We are now getting about a 100 customers a day on average. The number was slightly less until late last year, when the economic gloom began spreading its tentacles,” said the cafe official. He confirmed that most of those wanting print-outs of their resume were Indians, Filipinos and Lebanese, who have arrived here from other GCC cities after having lost their jobs due to cost-cutting measures adopted by their employers.
“Our interaction with most customers suggests they are outsiders and have been attracted here since they know that Qatar has not been affected by the global recession as much as other Gulf states have been,” said the official. “From their faces, too, we can tell that they are outsiders, for we have regular local clientele and most of them we know personally.” According to another cyber cafe official, their business has grown by no less than 10 percent since the onset of the global recession and most people frequenting it walk in with flash drives wanting print-outs of their resume to produce at interviews for jobs. The rate per hour for using the Internet in most cafes across the city is QR5, but they charge QR1for each print-out. “We are now getting about a 100 customers a day on average. The number was slightly less until late last year, when the economic gloom began spreading its tentacles,” said the cafe official. He confirmed that most of those wanting print-outs of their resume were Indians, Filipinos and Lebanese, who have arrived here from other GCC cities after having lost their jobs due to cost-cutting measures adopted by their employers.
