With hotel occupancy rate rising, Qatar’s tourism sector is going from strength to strength

Qatar is now a favourite destination for tourists from across the globe with the country receiving some 261,057 GCC visitors alone in the first quarter of this year, up 22.5% on Q1, 2011.

The revenue earned by Qatar’s four and five star hotels in the first quarter of this year totalled QR734.3mn, up QR32mn on Q1, 2011, a report released by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) in Doha yesterday said.

According to QTA, currently there are 112 hotels in Qatar.
This will bring Qatar’s hotel rooms and serviced apartment stock to 16,922 offered by 85 hotel facilities with a capacity of 15,025 rooms and 27 apartment hotels with some 1,897 units.

According to the report, average hotel occupancy rates reached 64% compared to 68% during the first quarter of 2011. But there has been a 12% increase in the number of hotel facilities compared to last year, which consequently led to an increase in the number of hotel rooms and serviced apartments available on the local market.

There are currently 85 hotel facilities compared to 74 hotels in 2011 and their revenues are also stronger than for the same period last year.

In terms of GCC tourists visiting Qatar statistics reveal a 22% growth rate in visitors during the first quarter of 2012. Travellers from Saudi Arabia represented the majority of tourists from the GCC countries with 161,549 tourists for the first quarter of 2012, a 25.3% increase.

This is followed by Oman (29,018), UAE (29,017), Bahrain (25,273) and Kuwait (16,200).

International visitor numbers also increased, especially from Asia. Asian tourists visiting Qatar registered the highest growth rate with a total of 36,385 in the first quarter of 2012, followed by Europeans (10,456) tourists.

A leading local travel agency has announced major growth in both airline and leisure sales in recent months.

According to Regency Travel and Tours, the start of the financial year has seen an increase of 40% in airline sales, and 70% in leisure sales, with the UAE proving the most popular destination in the GCC region and the UK in Europe.