(MENAFN – The Peninsula) By Sachin Kumar | The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar’s Hospitality sector is benefiting from a surge in tourists coming to the country. Hotels and resorts are doing brisk business as their occupancy ratio has risen significantly this year compared to last year, helped by a sharp increase in tourist inflow to the country.
Occupancy ratio is a crucial gauge of the hospitality industry as high occupancy rate shows high turn out of guests for hotels and resorts. The first quarter has been proved busy for the sector as occupancy has increased during January, February, and March.
The occupancy rate of hotels in Qatar jumped from 62 percent in March 2018 to 68 percent in March this year, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority data.
A similar trend was witnessed a month before, as occupancy rate jumped from 60 percent in February 2018 to 67 percent in February this year. Likewise, hotels witnessed an occupancy rate increasing from 58 percent in January 2018 to 64 percent in January this year.
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The increase in guest numbers was witnessed by all categories of hotels, shows the data. Five-star hotels saw their occupancy rate going up to 68 percent in April this year compared to 61 percent in same month last year. The occupancy rate of four-star hotels jumped from 62 percent in April 2018 to 70 percent in April this year while occupancy rate of three-star hotels jumped to 80 percent in April 2019 from 68 percent in April 2018.
The occupancy rate of two- and one-star hotels increased from 62 percent in April last year to 78 percent in April this year.
Qatar has received more number of tourists this year compared to last year, driven by a series of coordinated measures taken by concerned authorities to boost tourism in the country. According to QNTC, Qatar received 588,000 visitors during the first quarter of this year, reflecting an increase of 10 percent compared to the Q1 last year.
