In a remarkable feat leading up to the World Cup last year, Qatar has achieved an unprecedented expansion in terms of the number of hotel keys by a staggering 31 percent compared to previous years.
Qatar Tourism COO, Berthold Trenkel, said: “A year ago versus today, we have 31 percent more keys, that’s a massive expansion probably no country has achieved in such a short time, this venue [Fairmont Doha] didn’t exist a year ago.”
He was speaking at a panel discussion on Wednesday at the UFI MEA Conference, which was recently concluded.
The latest data from Qatar Tourism revealed that the country has a total of 38,506 hotel and apartment keys. Among the recently opened hotels in the country are Katara Towers, home to Fairmont Doha and Raffles Doha, The Ned Doha, Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha Resort, and Waldorf Astoria Lusail Doha, among others.
By the end of this year, Qatar will have over 40,000 hotel keys, 330,000 residential units, and 6.5 million sqm of office space, according to ValuStrat, a leading consultancy and advisory firm in the Middle East.
It explained that at least 46 hotels comprising 9,000 keys opened last year and 62 percent of them are in the 5-star category. 40 percent of the total number of hotel rooms were in the Lusail and West Bay areas.
Trenkel also mentioned the rise in arriving passengers for the first quarter of this year. “When I look at the arrival numbers, March this year we were beating the month of November which was the month of World Cup, we [are] nearly in the hotels’ reach the performance of December 2022 which was FIFA World Cup Qatar, and of course, those were the time where everything was leisure, and now is the time to make sure that the MICE [Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions] pillar is full rolling and we’re taking off.”
Last week, Hamad International Airport recorded a 44.5 percent increase in passenger traffic and an 18.65 percent increase in aircraft movements during the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year.
The airport saw a total of 10,315,695 passengers during the first quarter of 2023. Aircraft movements also increased compared to last year, with a total of 56,417 arriving and departing from the airport.
For a detailed perspective on the property market, visit: Qatar - Real Estate Review Q1 2023
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