The briefing discussions focused on the performance of Qatar’s hotel industry and foreseeable opportunities and challenges. Participants included Rudi Jagersbacher, President of Middle East and Africa at Hilton Worldwide, Darrell Sheaffer, General Manager-Hotels & Resorts, Hospitality Development Company and Tony Williams, Tourism Development Consultant, Qatar Tourism Authority. The industry insight sharing event also highlighted the major development of tourism infrastructure taking place in Doha and attracting more regional and overseas tourists to the country, as just one of the many activities that will continue to stimulate the Qatar market.
“Qatar’s hospitality market is set to witness a significant rise in the coming years. It is indeed one of the key markets AHIC is focusing on and registering its rapid developments. Hospitality and tourism are among many other sectors that will be strongly affected with the country’s preparations for the World Cup, where the government is showing great commitment to date in building a top class infrastructure and a primary model that caters to all industries. Moreover, hosting a mass tourism event such as the World Cup means that Qatar will have to diversify its hotel offering,” Edmund O’Sullivan, said.
Qatar Tourism Authority plans to invest $20bn on tourism infrastructure development as the country prepares to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. According to an official report, the country plans to build 45,000 additional hotel rooms to ensure that it meets FIFA’s room capacity requirement of 60,000 rooms. 21 new hotels are planned to open between 2013 and 2017. With the opening of several major hotels, including the Hilton Doha, and many more under construction, Qatar is ready to welcome the world to its shores and continues to prepare for future growth.
“With almost 1500 additional rooms in the pipeline, Hilton Worldwide appreciates and shares Qatar’s vision to develop sustainable marketplace and tourist and business destination. We are introducing a diverse range of hotel brands to Doha, including the legendary Waldorf Astoria and DoubleTree, to bring greater guest accommodation choice to a city,” Rudi Jagersbacher, President of Middle East and Africa at Hilton Worldwide, said.
“Qatar is one of the fastest growing hotel markets in the Gulf and many of the GCC countries will be looking over with interest as Qatar develops its infrastructure as part of the $65 billion investment plan,” Philip Wooller, Area Director of Middle East and Africa at STR Global, said.
He added: “Initial reaction to the hotel occupancies may appear lukewarm but when new supply and demand numbers are taken into consideration its clear to see that Qatar is developing into a major force in the region. Despite new supply numbers reaching as high as 33% year on year in the upscale category, demand increases are not too far behind at 28% year on year. It’s also interesting to note that Doha maintains some of the strongest Average Room Rates across the region and that coupled with the large food and beverage contribution provides a healthy return at GOP level.”
Moreover, the latest buoyant tourist statistics in the 2012 Annual Report showed that, Qatar witnessed 22% growth of GCC visitors during the first quarter of 2012. The report also states Qatar registered the highest growth rate of Asian visitors with a total of 36,385 visitors in the first quarter of 2012, followed by European tourists with a total of 10,456 tourists.
The briefing also included a presentation by Nehme Ayoub, Manager – Transaction Real Estate, Hospitality and Leisure Advisory Services Group, Ernst & Young Middle East on the current state of Qatar’s hotel market for investors and an overview on the vision moving forward. The presentation showed that Qatar is set to witness a significant impact on its hospitality industry, driving a high growth of corporate business, transiting guests and sporting tourists. The State will be seeing a big transformation in its hospitality industry, forecasting that the number of hotel rooms in Qatar to grow to 19,431 in 2016.
AHIC 2013, which is organised by MEED and Bench Events, will take place at the Madinat Jumeirah from 5-6 May 2013.