DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority’s (QTA) Mid-Year Tourism Performance Report for 2015 shows a seven percent increase in the number of foreign visitors in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period of 2014.
QTA data confirms that Qatar is on the path to meeting a milestone of three million visitors by 2015-end and to reaching a targeted seven million visitors by 2030.
The continued demand growth in the sector is also evident from data released on hotel performance. Overall occupancy rates have grown from previous highs in 2014, even with the addition of 1,400 new rooms since the start of 2015.
Arrivals from the GCC, Qatar’s largest source market, grew substantially in the first six months of 2015 by 16 percent compared to the same period last year.
The growth was primarily dominated by an increase in visitor arrivals from Saudi Arabia, which grew by 25 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.
Most of this growth took place in March when visitor arrivals increased by 82 percent compared to March 2014. From mid-year 2014 to mid-year 2015, visitor arrivals from the UAE also grew during the first half of 2015 (by seven percent), while arrivals from Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman remained unchanged.
The largest growth in other primary markets outside the GCC, included arrivals from France (up eight percent), China (up seven percent) and the US (up six percent).
According to QTA report, data for Qatar’s tourist accommodation stock now covers 100 percent of licensed hotels and hotel apartments.
“QTA began collecting performance statistics from hotel apartments for the first time in January 2015. For the first half of 2015 as a whole, all segments performed well, with particularly strong performances in terms of occupancy by four-star and Standard Apartment segments,” the report said, adding hotel apartments data for the first six months of 2015 shows strong performance similar to hotel properties, with an average of 77 percent occupancy.
Since the start of 2015, 11 new hotels have opened, adding about 1,400 rooms to Qatar’s tourism accommodation stock.
The new properties include five five-star, one four-star and five three-star hotels. An additional 13 properties with about 2,500 rooms are expected to come online before the year-end.
QTA analysts documented in the report, for the first time, six months’ data pertaining to the average length of stay of a hotel guest. Lengthier stays tend to occur within the Deluxe and Standard Hotel Apartments, while the shortest stays
were observed in three-star hotels.
“The mid-year performance numbers show a healthy growth in the sector and enormous potential for the industry,” said Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer, QTA.
“So far, hoteliers have been the most active in taking steps to take advantage of this potential, but we also will see a significant growth in investments in infrastructural and experiential aspects of tourism in the coming period to further capitalise on this potential and further diversify Qatar’s offering.”
The Peninsula
