Qatar reports rise in visitors in 2014 and forecasts hotel rooms to increase 25 per cent in 2015

Qatar enjoyed strong increases in visitor numbers, hotel occupancy and room rates in 2014, a report issued by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) this week shows.

It forecast the number of hotel rooms is forecast to increase by one quarter in 2015.

“Average hotel occupancy reached 73 per cent in 2014 compared to 65 per cent in 2013,” QTA Chairman Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi is quoted as saying by the report. “The largest gains were experienced in the 5-star segment which realised a jump to 71 per cent last year from 61 per cent in 2013. These strong gains in demand translated into revenue increases across the entire industry.”

Al-Mohannadi said that revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 8.3 per cent. There was a strong performance in the 5 and 3-star segments which saw RevPAR gains of 9.5 per cent and 15.5 per cent respectively.

Qatar had 16,000 hotel and hotel apartment rooms on average throughout 2014. This includes 85 hotel properties and 22 hotel apartment entities.

There were a total of 33 5-star hotel properties with 7,748 rooms across 33 properties.

“Room supply is set to more than double in the coming years with 66 hotels and 14 hotel apartments planned for opening in the next five years,” Al-Mohannadi said. QTA says it expects 20 new properties with nearly 4,000 rooms to open in 2015.

“Aside from properties currently under construction, there are proposals for nearly 50 additional properties,” al-Mohannadi said.

Qatar aims to have 7 million to 9 million visitors by 2030. The number of visitors rose by 8.2 per cent to more than 2.8 million visitors in 2014.

“Since 2009, international visits to Qatar have increased 91 per cent with an average annual rate of growth of 13.8 per cent,” Al-Mohannadi said.

To find out more, go to MEED.com.