Qatar's one and two-star hotels saw fastest expansion in the rooms' yield on an annualised basis in April owing to higher occupancy and average room rate, according to the data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
However, the country's hospitality sector witnessed an overall weakness in the room yield this April, mainly pulled down by that in the five-star hotel and deluxe apartment categories, although there was a 635.1% year-on-year surge in visitor arrivals to Qatar in the review period.
In April 2022, Qatar has seen a total 97,854 visitor arrivals with majority coming in from other Asia (including Oceania) and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries. The visitor arrivals from other Asia (including Oceania) constituted 32% of the total, followed by the GCC (31%), Europe (20%), other Arab countries (9%), Americas (6%) and other African countries (2%).
The properties that have been utilised as quarantine/Covid-19 response facilities have been removed from the full market data set from March 2020, PSA said.
The two-star and one-star category hotels' average revenue per available room grew 33.33% year-on-year to QR120 in April 2022. The average room rate in two-star and one-star hotels shot up 25.81% on yearly basis to QR156 and occupancy by 5% to 77%.
The average revenue per available room in the four-star category soared 29.35% on an annualised basis to QR119 in April 2022. The average room rate in the four-star hotels surged 32.42% to QR241 but the occupancy was down 1% to 50% in April 2022.
Nevertheless, the country's overall hospitality sector saw 29.83% year-on-year decrease in average revenue per available room to QR179 in April 2022 as the average room rate was down 0.96% to QR411 and occupancy by 17% to 44% in the review period.
In the case of five-star hotels, the average revenue per available room gained 17.91% on annualised basis to QR220 in April this year as the average room rate was down 0.85% year-on-year to QR582 and the occupancy by 8% to 38%.
The three-star hotels witnessed a 5.84% year-on-year decline in average revenue per available room to QR129 in April this year. The average room rate was seen rising 7.56% year-on-year to QR185 but occupancy fell 10% to 70%.
In the case of standard hotel apartments, the room yield soared 20.1% year-on-year to QR149 in April 2022. The average room rate plummeted 39.39% year-on-year to QR200 as the occupancy zoomed 37% to 75% in April 2022.
The deluxe hotel apartments nevertheless saw a 46.71% year-on-year plunge in average revenue available per room to QR154 in April 2022. The average room rate in the deluxe hotel apartments was down 2.47% on an annualised basis to QR356. The occupancy plummeted 36% to 43%.