REPORT: Hoteliers gear up for 2022 World Cup

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.

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.

Two of the Gulf’s most prominent engineering consultancy firms have said they are confident about winning contracts in Qatar in the lead up to the World Cup.

WSP and Atkins, both of which already have a presence in Qatar, are hoping to be involved in some of the state’s largest projects coming online now that FIFA has named its host country.

Atkins’ country director for Qatar, Gordon Jack, confirmed the company is involved in World Cup projects already and referred to a focus on infrastructure developments in the future.

“We are already working with several Qatari Government bodies on projects that have a programme that is related to the World Cup,” Jack asserted.

“We see the impact of the win as an opportunity for us to increase our involvement in rail and infrastructure projects and to reinvigorate the building construction programme.”

Supply Issue
But although the official FIFA report said that Qatar currently attracts around one million visitors a year, and is aiming to grow visitor numbers by 20% over the next five years, the country is already suffering from an oversupply problem. It will have to develop a clear strategy to avoid exacerbating the problem in the interim.

Ultimately, one of the solutions would be to see Qatar concentrating its tourism efforts on sports — creating a real marketing focus for the government, explained consultancy company Viability’s partner and general manager Guy Wilkinson.

“Qatar is to some extent following Oman’s strategy of selective tourism, and is looking to capitalise on sports and cultural tourism, together with MICE business, rather than aiming at mass tourism,” he said.

“The Qatari government has been on record promising 140 new hotels to serve the games.  Qatar, therefore, has 12 years to build up other tourism facilities that will take up the slack of hotel demand when the football fans have gone home.  It’s a long time and with the wealth at their disposal, the Qataris certainly have the potential to achieve this,” Wilkinson added.

But with any large sporting event, there is often a great deal of initial investment, with little consideration for what will happen when the event is over.

“Qatar will face similar issues as other countries have been facing in terms of what you do with all the inventory once the event is over,” said Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels regional director and head of real estate inventory, Jalil Mekouar.

However, in the case of Qatar, Al-Emadi argued that the hotels built would be able to sustain themselves even after the end of the World Cup.

“The World Cup is not tomorrow or next year, we are talking 10 years plus. On average, any country which has a strong economy, they are going to have growth and it depends in which sector, but whatever sector the government is planning to grow, this is part of the country’s growth so there will definitely be a need [for more hotels],” he asserted.

Looking beyond Qatar, hoteliers said that the World Cup would make a difference to tourism in the surrounding countries.

“This will have a huge impact on tourism in the region,” said Mike Scully, managing director at Seven Tides. “This will be the World Cup of the Middle East as opposed to the World Cup of just Qatar.”

Scully pointed to Bahrain’s hosting of the 2010 Grand Prix and the massive number of spectators who commuted from Dubai to watch the event as an indicator of how FIFA’s much-larger World Cup - arguably the biggest sporting event in the world behind the Olympics - could spur local tourism.

And next door, the proposed causeway linking Bahrain and Doha could propel tourism on the island nation. Manama and surrounds could provide a haven for spectators who choose to stay in the comparatively liberal country and commute to Qatar for matches.

Crawford also cited the World Cup’s effect on tourism as something which surrounding countries would potentially benefit from.

“I think this wonderful achievement is good news for the hospitality industry across the region and whilst Qatar will clearly be the first choice destination for many fans, others will choose to combine a visit to the World Cup with a holiday nearby, perhaps in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Bahrain,” he said.

Qatar: a sporting nation?
Football history: The national team played its first match against Bahrain in 1970 and has since gone on to win the Gulf Cup twice - in 1992 and 2004. However, the team has never progressed beyond the group stage in continental football championships.

Notable sporting events: Qatar was selected to host the 15th Asian Games in 2006; the first city in the region to host the event.