Image used for representation only.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s hospitality sector is witnessing a strong growth with hotels across segments seeing an increase in occupancy rates. Among the hotels, two and one star hotels recorded the highest occupancy rate in September this year, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) data.
The occupancy rate of two and one star hotels surged to 95 percent in September due to the rise in hotel visitors and guests.
The hotel and hotel apartments in Qatar witnessed a robust performance with the overall occupancy rate being at 58 percent in September 2023. The hotels of all categories, ranging from five star to four and three star, have also seen rise in occupancy rates and revenue per available room, according to the official data.
The three star hotels occupancy rate jumped by 76 percent in September 2023. Similarly, the occupancy rate of four star hotels was 57 percent and in case of five star, the hotels’ the occupancy rates stood at 51 percent in the review period.
The occupancy rates of deluxe hotel apartments and standard hotel apartments for September 2023 were 62 percent and 77 percent respectively.
Hotels in Qatar have also witnessed a rise in revenue per available room which is used to assess a hotel’s ability to fill its available rooms at an average rate.
It is important because it helps hotel industry measure the overall success of their hotel. Revenue per available room for five star hotels stood at QR263 in September 2023 while it was QR124 in four star hotels; QR127 in three star; and QR135 in two and one star hotels.
The average room rate for deluxe and standard hotel apartments rose to QR193 and QR171 respectively in September this year. The average room rate for five star hotels stood at QR512 and in case of four star hotels it reached QR220, while the overall hotel and hotel apartment average room rate was QR360 in September 2023.
As for tourism, the total number of inbound visitors reached about 247,000, recording a monthly decrease of 6.2 percent (compared to August 2023) but registered an annual increase of 63.7 percent (compared to September 2022). The highest number of visitors was from the GCC countries at 34 percent. As for visitors by type of port, the visitors via air make up the highest percentage with 69 percent of the total number of visitors.
Qatar aims to welcome more than six million visitors per year by 2030 and further its tourism offerings in line with Qatar’s National Vision 2030.
Hamad International Airport (DOH) maintains its performance through third quarter of 2023, reporting a substantial 26.84 percent increase in passenger traffic compared to the same period last year. This achievement builds upon a display of consistent growth, with a 44.5 percent increase in Q1 and a 24 percent increase in Q2.
During Q3, Hamad International Airport welcomed a total of 12,706,475 passengers –with 4,305,391 passengers in July, 4,398,427 passengers in August and 4,002,657 passengers in September.
The airport’s skies also bustled with activity as it reported 67,285 aircraft movements within this period, which is a 24.48 percent increase compared to the previous year. It had 22,598 aircraft movements in the month of July, 22,909 in August and 21,778 in September.
