Doha: Qatar recently announced a new tourism project in Simaisma as the latest data from the National Tourism Council indicates a robust tourism and hotel industry in 2024.

A recent report by Cushman & Wakefield, stated that the QR20bn project, ushered by Qatari Diar Real Estate is launched in order to lead the race as an internationally recognised tourist destination in the country and is aligned with the goals of Qatar’s ambitious National Development Strategy 2030, aiming to diversify economic growth.

In June, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani introduced the Simaisma Project.

The project includes 16 tourism zones, a theme park, an international standard golf club, a yacht club and marina, and significant retail and restaurants at Simaisma.

During the first quarter of 2024, Qatar reported 1.6 million passenger arrivals, with a 40 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.

Researchers noted that the demand grew significantly for hotel rooms of 2.6 million, an increase of 37 percent compared to 2023.

Reports state that Saudi Arabia is Qatar’s biggest source market for tourists with 28 percent of overall arrivals flowing in.

On the other hand, industry leaders highlight India’s significant presence as it represents the second biggest market for Qatar at 7 percent, while the third highest number of visitors during the first quarter came from Germany at 5 percent.

“The increase in visitors has boosted the performance metrics for the hotel real estate sector with occupancy up from 54 percent in Q1 2023 to 75 percent this year,” the report said. The monthly occupancy rate was elevated by 85 percent in February, coinciding with Qatar hosting the AFC Asian Cup and Web Summit Qatar. Data says that “The increase in demand also boosted hotel revenues in Q1 with American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) up 10 percent y-o-y to QR481 and (Revenue Per Available Room) RevPARs up 53 percent to QR361.

According to a data by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) in the second quarter, overall occupancy was recorded at 63 percent. Meanwhile, ADRs were QR463, up from 47 percent and QR442 in April 2023 respectively.

Although the overall occupancy rates and ADRs have functioned relatively stable during the past months, hotels across the country grappled to gain traction in an increasingly competitive market, with occupancy rates remaining less than 30 percent. This eventuated the market conditions in a “reluctance” from investors to back hotel enhancements, which resulted in a decline in the pipeline of future supply in Doha. Analysts mentioned that the overall supply of hotel keys in Qatar reached 39,715, of nearly 10,000 hotel apartments, by the month of April. Among them, around 90 percent of hotel rooms are categorised as four-star of five-star, with the majority of apartments being classed as ‘deluxe’.

It further added “While the pace of new supply has slowed over the past year, the total number of rooms reflects an increase of more than 45 percent in five years, putting pressure on hotel occupancies and the performance of hotel restaurants over a sustained period.”

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