Qatar's World Cup goals

A range of topics were discussed at the inaugural Hotelier Middle East Qatar GM Debate, but it was the legacy of the World Cup 2022 that dominated discussion and divided opinions.

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) dismissed any doubts over the legacy of its FIFA World Cup in 2022 at the inaugural Hotelier Middle East Qatar GM Debate.

During the event at Grand Hyatt Doha on April 19, head of marketing for QTA Cristina Mules said in the keynote speech that Qatar could “look forward to a dynamic future for our nation and our people”.

“We will focus on five key areas, MICE, culture, sport, education and leisure and our goal is to increase tourism by 20% in the next five years,” she said.

Mules stated that the QTA also had a further aim of getting tourism to contribute to Qatar’s overall GDP in the future.

“We are very proud of our vision and contribution towards a long-term, sustainable development and promoting the country’s rich culture and heritage,” she added.

Viability director Guy Wilkinson’s presentation on the World Cup in 2022 outlined the enormous task ahead for Qatar, but he said it was “already well on its way to achieving its targets”.

Using Dubai’s hotel growth statistics as a comparative, he asserted that Qatar’s plans were certainly “achievable” despite being “ambitious”.

“It’s a very ambitious building programme as we all know; implications are we will see some problems that were apparent during the previous construction boom, before the global recession started,” he said.

“As I understand it there were shortages of manpower, shortages of cement and other building materials, so these things need to be planned for.”
Wilkinson also added it would be interesting to see how the rooms would materialise outside of the hotel component, between two thirds and three quarters of the 90,000-room target.

“Will those compounds be residential? How will they make those rooms available during that one event — what will happen before, what will happen after?” he asked.

“Even with 20,000 hotel rooms (current supply) and occupancy last year averaging 60%, it’s not exactly full is it? What will happen when you double, triple or multiply by five or nine that inventory, is the spectre of oversupply more than a spectre, can this hotel market justify this new investment?”

Wilkinson asserted that the plans set out by the QTA were “crucial” over the next 11 years in securing reasons for people to visit Qatar before and after the World Cup.

“Qatar is already a centre for business, but the leisure market really needs looking at, providing entertainment attractions like Dubai, Miami and Florida.”

In the following session, ‘World Cup 2022 – A Game Changer for the Industry?’, the panellists concurred that the event was well-planned and that steps were being taken to secure visitors to the region after it was over.

Starwood Hotels senior VP, regional director Middle East, Guido de Wilde commented: “I’m not worried, typically Qatar has always been a corporate destination and with the infrastructure being built, construction of the ports, nine stadiums being built — with all these projects on the way, automatically that will bring the traveller into this destination, it’s a given.

“From a leisure perspective, Qatar is starting to get more Saudis, western Asians and there’s the growing GCC market.”

Hospitality Development Company general manager hotels and resorts Darrell Sheaffer agreed, adding it was important to be proactive.

“The answer is we need more visitors, we need population growth and I think the foundation is being laid for that. It’s not a matter of if you build it they will come; it’s if you don’t build it they won’t,” he said.
“We will continue to see a focus on event-based tourism and the facilities that are coming online in the next year or two, the international convention centre and the Doha Exhibition Centre will be huge assets for us as well as the hotels and other developments.”

There was certainly a consensus amongst the panel that, while the majority of visitors to Qatar were there on business, there was developing interest in leisure tourism and this needed to be promoted.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company area general manager, Hos Vetry, said the development of beach-front properties had helped in attracting a new segment of guest.

“We are known to attract more families because of the beach, so there is a demand from families, but I think we also need to build a theme park in Doha to bring a different segmentation to the hotels,” he explained.

Developments in home-grown entertainment options, mega projects such as The Pearl, an expanding middle class and the growth of Qatar Airways were also cited as reasons why the legacy of the World Cup would be a positive one.

Lessons from South Africa
Viability’s Guy Wilkinson provided an interesting comparison with the hotel and tourism figures for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
While the tournament helped to attract 14 million tourists to the country in the winter month of June, he added “there were some problems that Qatar could surely learn from”.

“The hotels, particularly in Cape Town overcharged and they lost occupancy, which brings up the topic of revenue management,” he said.
“There were 286,000 extra visitors, which was below expectations of over 450,000 visitors — due to the global recession some couldn’t afford to go and prioritised spending elsewhere.”

Added to this was a logistical problem of the Match Committee overbooking seats and returning them too late to the market.

It is estimated by UBS Investment Research that the World Cup contributed between 0.5% and 2.2% towards South Africa’s GDP.

FIFA World Cup 2022: key facts & figures
• To be staged in June/July 2022 — 11 years from now
• 64 matches
• Three to four matches per day
• Over last 20 years, Qatar hosted
• 1995 FIFA U-20 World Cup
• 2006 Asian Games
• 2011 AFC Asian Cup
• Qatar World Cup bid among nine
from 11 countries (there were
two joint bids)
• Bid for:
• first Arabian World Cup
• first carbon-neutral World Cup
• Qatar beat the US by 14 votes to eight in the final round

US$86.5 billion of new projects to be ready for 2022
• Stadiums
• Hotels and other accommodation
• 36 Venue-Specific Training Sites
• 64 Team Base Camps (54 new)
• New Doha International Airport
• New Doha Port
• Rail Network and Metro
• Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge
• New roads
• Lusail, including:
• Qatar Entertainment City
• Energy City Qatar
• Barwa Financial District
• Musheirib
• The Pearl Qatar — which will feature six luxury hotels
• Al Waab City
• The Gate