US $17 billion investment already earmarked in preparation for the football tournament
Qatar’s successful World Cup 2022 bid is set to have a dramatic impact on tourism in the country, with hoteliers already planning additional properties to cater for the visitors predicted to flock to the event.
According to FIFA’s official report on the evaluation of the Qatari bid, the country is planning to double its hotel inventory to almost 90,000 rooms over the next 12 years — which will see an investment of around US $17 billion over the next five years.
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Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA)acting head of Licensing and Classification Tourism Activities, Mohammed Al Ansari, confirmed: “We continue to move ahead with current plans including the construction of more than 120 hotels, two state-of-the-art convention and exhibition centers with more than 90,000m² of space for events and large scale conferences, as well as the New Doha International Airport, which is scheduled to open in 2012 and will see capacity expand.
“This new infrastructure seeks to support the country’s growth as well as the tourism market. There is also a memorandum of understanding in place with Qatar Development Bank to support future tourism projects as a key to development,” he added.
The potential for the development of new hotels was echoed by Premier Inn Hotels managing director Darroch Crawford, who already has a hotel planned in Doha — a JV with Dohaland, which is due to come online in 2012.
“We are delighted that our plans for a Premier Inn in Doha are well advanced and we have a head start on others who may now look at the country for investment,” he said.
In addition to increasing the number of visitors to the country, the successful FIFA World Cup bid will help diversify the hotel market in Qatar — with more companies looking at the option of budget brands in the country.
Dohaland Hospitality CEO Abdul Aziz Al-Emadi confirmed that the type of hotel that companies would be looking to develop in Qatar would be ‘budget and mid-scale’, adding: “People will not fly to watch the football and come for a short visit and they will really think about their total expense — so it is very important to have something affordable for them.”
Qatar plans to have a total of 240 properties in place to cater to accommodation needs during the World Cup — up from its current total of 100 existing hotels, villages and compounds (according to the FIFA official report).
Two thirds of the new supply of inventory — amounting to an extra 55,000 rooms — will be covered by 17 construction projects; 13 of which will be completed by 2016.
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