By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter
The total leasable area in the organised retail market in Qatar has grown to over 690,000sqm at the end of the first quarter of this year, according to a report released by real estate management and research agency DTZ.
According to the agency, the newly-opened Gulf Mall which has more than 100,000sqm of leasable space, City Center Doha and Villaggio together account for more than 50% of the current organised retail space available in the country.
Besides the three malls, the real estate agency has named 11 other shopping locations across the country on the list.
These are Landmark, Hyatt Plaza, The Mall, The Centre, Royal Plaza, Centerpoint, Ezdan Mall, Lagoona Mall, The Gate, Dar Al Salam and West End complex.
The report says more than 12mn sqm of retail space in 12 new shopping malls is currently in various stages of design or construction and may be opened before 2019. This would eventually represent a 220% rise on current supply.
The growth in the retail sector is somewhat stable and it has contributed to an increase in rental levels on lease renewals in some of the malls. At some of the prime malls, rents range between QR240 and QR270/sq m.
The report also says occupancy rates in Qatar’s hotels in 2014 went up by 8% compared to the previous year.
While the average occupancy in 2014 was 65%, last year it went up to 73%, the agency said, quoting a Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) report.
According to Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, which was published last year, the number of tourists and visitors to Qatar would come close to 7mn/year by 2030. Last year, the country issued 2.8mn visas, which reflected an increase of nearly 8% over the previous year.
The report, quoting QTA, has foreseen an investment close to $45bn in the private and public sectors in coming years to boost the hospitality industry.
The report also says the country has ambitious plans to boost tourist traffic from outside the GCC to nearly 64% by 2030. Now, the tourist industry, it points out, relies mainly on visitors from Saudi Arabia.
The DTZ finding is that a combination of increased arrivals of visitors and limited new supply in the market was the key driver for increased occupancy rates throughout 2014.
The agency has also reported the opening of three major hotels in the first quarter of this year - Marsa Malaz Kempinski The Pearl - Doha, Warwick Doha Hotel on Rayyan Road and Meli? Doha in West Bay.
With the commissioning of these hotels, the total number of hotels and serviced apartments in the country has risen to 111. The number of rooms has increased to 17,400, of which 86% are either in the four-star or 5-star categories, the DTZ studies have noticed, quoting QTA figures.
Fresh reports from the QTA have said approvals for the construction of 124 new hotel establishments are in place and, when completed, the number of rooms would rise to approximately 35,000. The agency’s own research has identified that 32 new hospitality developments are currently under construction and it could increase the market supply over the next three years by nearly 10,000 rooms.
Meanwhile, the average daily rate (ADR) fell for the sixth year running since 2008, it is reported. The DTZ expects it to come down further in the near future as nearly 4,000 new rooms are expected to be completed in the remaining part of the ongoing year.
The report has recalled that owing to a phenomenal growth in the number of hotels over the last six years, the ADR at luxury hotels - which was a little over QR1,000 in 2009 - is now close to only QR600. In 2012, with the ADR hovering around QR800, the occupancy rates fell to a little over 50%.
Another interesting finding is that in the first quarter of this year, 44% of hotel keys fell in the five-star category while 42% accounted for four-star status. As many as 13% of the hotels belonged to the 3-star category.
