Three major sport events that Qatar is hosting — World Athletics Championships in 2019, FIFA World Cup 2022 and the World Aquatics Championships (2023) are expected to generate significant demand for the GCC tourism and hospitality industry, a new report has shown. Qatar is expected to witness highest revenue growth in five years up to 2022 on account of significant investment activities in the tourism and hospitality sector for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 event, which is expected to attract over 1.5mn tourist arrivals, Alpen Capital has said in a recent report.
The country is witnessing an increase in hotel supply on account of FIFA World Cup 2022, the report noted. Qatar’s hotel supply stood at 22,461 hotel rooms and 2,706 service apartments in 2017. Qatar is expected to have a hotel supply of 46,000 rooms by 2022, Alpen Capital said.
Qatar National Tourism Strategy 2030 aims to increase the tourism spending up to QR40bn and tourism’s contribution to 4% of the country’s GDP in 2023 from 2.3% in 2016.
Qatar hospitality market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.1% (2017-2022) to $1.4bn by 2022. Its hotel sector is dominated (70%) by 4-star and 5-star hotels.
International tourist visits are expected to grow at a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% to 2.9mn, whereas the hotel supply is expected to grow at a 5-year CAGR of 12.8% to 46,000 hotel rooms.
Average daily rate (ADR) is expected to grow at a 5-year CAGR of 0.5% to $164 until 2022, whereas the Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is expected to decline at a 5-year CAGR of 0.4% to $91 by 2022.
In 2017, Qatar had witnessed a decline in international tourist arrivals on account of the blockade.
However, Qatar is considering it as an opportunity to become self-reliant, and also preparing to host FIFA World Cup 2022. Qatar is required to have 60,000 hotel rooms by 2022 as per FIFA guidelines. Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 targets 5.6mn international tourist arrivals by 2023.
Qatar has the highest share in business spending in the GCC region on account of the country’s efforts to promote Qatar as a leading destination for business meetings, events and exhibitions.
Qatar’s business events segment contributed 5.3% to the country’s non-hydrocarbons GDP in 2016.
Qatar saw an increase in travel and tourism spending by 4.41% to $14.2bn in 2017.
Leisure tourism increased by 8.66% to $8,583.9mn whereas business spending declined by 1.7% to $5,637mn.
The Khalifa International Stadium is seen illuminated at night in Doha. Qatar is expected to witness highest revenue growth in five years up to 2022 on account of significant investment activities in the tourism and hospitality sector for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022, which is expected to attract over 1.5mn tourist arrivals, Alpen Capital said in its report.
