(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Occupancy rates across all hotels reached 82% in the first quarter of this year, up 8% in comparison to the same period last year
Qatar's tourism industry continued its growth in the first quarter of this year (January-March), according to a report released by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) yesterday.
The report shows all key indicators of the tourism sector demonstrated improvement and growth compared to the same quarter of 2014.
Regional and international visitor arrivals totalled 841,025, representing a 11% year-on-year increase. In comparison to the first quarter of 2014, arrivals from the Americas grew by 17%, from Europe by 9% and from Asia by 7%.
Arrivals from the GCC, Qatar's largest source market, grew markedly in the first quarter of this year, increasing by 16% compared to the corresponding period of 2014. Arrivals from other Arab and other African nations remained almost the same.
The overall growth from the GCC countries was primarily dominated by an increase in visitor arrivals from Saudi Arabia which grew by 28% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the corresponding period of 2014. Most of this growth took place in March when visitor arrivals grew by 82% compared to March 2014, with 241,008 Saudi visitors entering Qatar. At the same time, visitor arrivals from Bahrain, Oman, and the UAE also grew during the first quarter of 2015, though by modest rates.
In the accommodation sector, all segments performed well for the first quarter of 2015, with only 5-star hotels and deluxe apartments reporting occupancy rates slightly below 80%.
Occupancy rates across all hotels reached 82% in the first quarter of this year, up 8% in comparison to the same period last year. Average room rates dropped slightly (by 1%), primarily driven by drops in 4-, 2- and 1-star hotels.
QTA began collecting performance statistics from hotel apartments for the first time in January 2015. First-quarter hotel apartments' data shows strong performance similar to hotel properties, with an average occupancy rate of 80% across all related establishments.
Qatar hosted many entertainment events as well as a growing number of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (Mice) activities during the first quarter of 2015, which contributed to the growth in the tourism sector.
"March witnessed the largest monthly influx of arrivals in Qatar's history. As tourism is a key piece of diversifying the national economy we look positively on these developments," said Hassan al-Ibrahim, chief tourism development officer at QTA.
"These impressive results prompt us to build on them by providing the tourism and hospitality sector with full support, so that it can grow and flourish to carry on its ascending trajectory and achieve even better results in the second quarter of 2015," he added.
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