(MENAFN- Gulf Times) There has been a 7% increase in the number of foreign visitors received in Qatar in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period last year, according to a report issued by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) yesterday.
The Mid-Year Tourism Performance Report for 2015 shows an expanding tourist accommodation sector and confirms indications that Qatar is on the path to meeting a milestone of 3mn visitors by the end of 2015 and well on its way to reaching a targeted 7mn visitors by 2030.
The continued demand growth in the sector is also evident from the data released on hotel performance. Overall occupancy rates have grown from previous highs in 2014, even with the addition of 1,400 new rooms since the start of 2015.
Arrivals from the GCC, Qatar's largest source market, grew substantially in the first six months of 2015, increasing by 16% compared to the same period in 2014. The growth was primarily dominated by an increase in visitor arrivals from Saudi Arabia, which grew by 25% in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.
Most of this growth took place in March when visitor arrivals grew by 82% compared to March 2014.
Visitor arrivals from the UAE also grew during the first half of 2015 (by 7%) while arrivals from Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman essentially remained unchanged.
The largest growth in other primary markets, outside of the GCC, included arrivals from France (up 8%), China (up 7%) and the USA (up 6%).
According to the report, data for Qatar's tourist accommodation stock now covers 100% of licensed hotels and hotel apartments in the country.
"QTA began collecting performance statistics from hotel apartments for the first time in January 2015. For the first half of 2015 as a whole, all segments performed well, with particularly strong performances in terms of occupancy by the 4-star and standard apartment segments," the report stated, adding that hotel apartments data for the first six months of 2015 shows strong performance similar to hotel properties, with an average of 77% occupancy.
Since the start of 2015, 11 new hotels have opened their doors to guests, adding approximately 1,400 rooms in Qatar's tourism accommodation stock. The new properties include five 5-star, one 4-star, and five 3-star hotels. An additional 13 properties with approximately 2,500 rooms are expected to come online before the year's end.
QTA analysts documented in the report, for the first time, data of six months, pertaining to the average length of stay of a hotel guest. Lengthier stays tend to occur within the deluxe and standard hotel apartments, while the shortest stays were observed in the 3-star hotels.
"The mid-year performance numbers show a healthy growth in the sector and enormous potential for the industry," commented Hassan al-Ibrahim, chief tourism development officer at QTA. "So far, hoteliers have been the most active in taking steps to take advantage of this potential, but we also will see a significant growth in investments in the infrastructural and experiential aspects of tourism in the coming period to further capitalize on this potential and to further diversify Qatar's offering."
Monthly arrivals to Qatar during the first half of 2015 align with previous years' trends, whereby total arrivals are highest in the months of January and March. As typical, the timing of Ramadan, which this year began in mid-June (compared to late June last year), has had an impact on arrivals. June 2015 arrivals were 8% lower than in 2014 and 2% lower than in 2013.
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