First quarter of this year was notably successful for hotels in Qatar. They managed to improve their occupancy to 68%. This is a huge growth as in the first quarter of 2010 the occupancy reached 59%.
Such raise is the result of many factors with travellers from Gulf Cooperation Council states being the most significant one. GCC visitors make out as much as 48% of all visitors to Qatar or 213,000 people. Tourists from Saudi Arabia are the most active as during this quarter hotels in Qatar have provided accommodations to 118,000 of visitors from this country. This means, 64% of all GCC visitors are from Saudi Arabia.
RevPAR figure keeps growing slowly in Qatar and here this country is not far ahead from other countries of the Middle East. The growth in this figure first appeared with the news about 2022 FIFA World Cup. 5-star hotels show a growth of 20% within the quarter. This increase is mostly led by January, when RevPAR skyrocketed to +60% level due to Asian Football Cup matches.
Currently there are 77 hotels and 42 residential apartments in Qatar under construction. When they start operating, they will add approximately 21,000 of guestrooms. This year will open 35 accommodations in Qatar, adding 6,400 guestrooms to the inventory of the country.
Currently Qatar tries to gear up its tourism industry by conducting various large-scale events that traditionally attract many visitors and increase bookings in Qatar hotels. This year the country will host World Petroleum Congress and the Arab Games.