Doha, Qatar: Qatar has seen the significant developments in the hotel sector with the total supply of rooms increasing by more than 8,000 over the past 18 months.
The total supply of hotel rooms in Qatar has now reached more than 38,000 and is expected to surpass 40,000 rooms by year-end, Cushman & Wakefield said in its Q2 2023 Real Estate Market Review released yesterday during a seminar held at Hilton Doha.
Speaking during the second quarterly real estate market seminar, Johnny Archer, Director of Consulting and Research at Cushman and Wakefield said, “A significant increase in tourist arrivals in 2023 helps support hotel performance. This recent increase in supply will be supplemented by some significant additions to the market in the coming months, including Andaz Doha, Four Seasons Resort and Residences at the Pearl Island, NH Collection Oasis Doha Hotel, Rixos Qetaifan North, Rosewood Doha, and Waldorf Astoria West Bay.”
Qatar’s hospitality sector faces considerable challenges over the coming years, not only in building room occupancy but also in supporting the significant increase in associated restaurants. Early signs of increased visitor numbers post-World Cup have been positive; however, a significant increase in these numbers will need to be sustained over the longer term, the report noted.
Following a number of turbulent years due to COVID-19, the tourism industry globally is expecting 2023 to be a year of recovery and improved performance. This is certainly the case in Qatar, as the country looks to benefit from the profile provided by the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the tourism infrastructure that has been developed over the past few years.
Statistics released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show a significant increase in tourist arrivals to Qatar this year. Between January and May, more than 1.75 million visitors were recorded entering the state of Qatar. This increased from 0.58 million over the same months in 2022 – a 206 percent increase.
The number of arrivals has surpassed the previous 5-month record from 2017 by 28 percent. Approximately 685,000 visitors from the GCC arrived in Qatar over the first five months of 2023, mostly from Saudi Arabia. This accounts for 38.7 percent of total visitors, highlighting the importance of the restoration of diplomatic ties in the region.
PSA statistics showed that there was a slight fall in occupancy between Q1, 2023 and Q1, 2022 from 57 percent to 54 percent; however, the supply of rooms over this period had increased substantially.
Occupancy rates for April and May were recorded at 47 percent and 56 percent respectively, compared to 44 percent and 57 percent last year. Average Daily Rates for the entire hotel sector in Q1 dropped from QR458 to QR434 year-on-year.
This fell to QR444 in April and QR401 in May.
Recent surveys cite stronger tourism demand among the drivers of positive performance. Tourist arrivals slid in April relative to March; still, the monthly figures were more than double the number in April 2022, with visitors from Europe hitting an all-time monthly record.
Overall, Qatar attracted nearly 1.5 million tourists in just four months, underpinning the non-oil recovery.
