The number of hospitality options in Qatar is set to increase further as 20 new properties are due to open this year, the Oxford Business Group (OBG) has said.
With this, some 4,000 rooms will be added to the local market, OBG has observed in its 2016 report.
“As Qatar prepares to host major events, such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, room supply is on track to more than double with 56 hotels and 13 hotel apartment buildings planned for the next five years, bringing an additional estimated 26,650 rooms,” the report pointed out. “Of these, 20 properties are due to open in 2016, increasing room supply by 4,000.”
The rise in hotel stock this year will mark a continuation of the trend seen in 2015, when supply increased by 5,000 to reach over 20,700 rooms with the opening of some 20 new properties in the country, the report observed, citing Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) records. 
There was an increase of around 30% last year compared to 2014, OBG said.
However, the rising stock and growing competition saw the occupancy rate decrease from 73.1% in 2014 to 70.7% in 2015. “Hotel performance in 2015 showed prices, earnings and occupancy all down for the year as new stock came online and competition tightened,” the report said.
Meanwhile, OBG noted a 0.7-point rise (to 76.5%) in occupancy in the four-star segment in 2015. Across the entire hotel segment, average room rates (ARR) fell by 5.7% year-on-year while revenue per available room (RevPAR) dropped by 8.8%.
Five-star hotels and deluxe hotel apartments raised ARRs by 3.8% but earned 2.6% less in RevPARs as occupancy dropped by four points last year.
The recently-issued tourism performance summary of QTA revealed a drop in occupancy levels in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year. An average of 64% occupancy was recorded across all hotels and hotel apartments in the country in the first six months of 2016.
“The drop was generated in part by a 10% net increase in the number of available rooms, as four new properties have opened their doors since the end of June 2015,” QTA had said in a press statement.
QTA finds the occupancy rate across all hotels steady over the past two years despite the increasing number of properties in the hospitality sector.
“We recognise that the number of visitors will peak during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and our strategy aims to deliver everything needed for a successful World Cup while safeguarding all the local and foreign investors by ensuring that they only build what can be sustained overtime,” QTA’s chief tourism development officer Hassan Adbdulrahman al-Ibrahim said in an interview with OBG.
He noted that they were planning to use cruise ships as temporary accommodation that would add to the current stock of hotel rooms.
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