Doha hotel earnings reach US $983mn in 2013

Qatar hotel earnings at four- and five-star hotels reached QAR 3.58bn (US $983mn) in 2013, revealed Chris Hewett, senior consultant, TRI Hospitality Consulting at the Hotelier Middle East Qatar Hospitality Summit today.

Presenting to a full room of more than 150 hoteliers at Grand Hyatt Doha, Hewett revealed an increase in demand for Qatar hotels, reflected in improved figures and in line with a boost in visitor numbers.

He said Qatar hotels recorded 1.3mn visitors in 2013, up 8.3% from 1.2mn in 2012, and a 13% increase in overall hotel revenues. At the same time, Doha International Airport welcomed 23.2mn passengers in 2013, up 9.9% on 2012.

Occupancy in 2013 stood at 59.8%, an increase on 2012, but average room rate dropped -6.3 percentage points to QAR 847.1. Hotels maintained RevPar though, said Hewett, reporting an increase of 7.7%.

However, with another 7000 rooms planned for Doha by 2017, Hewett warned occupancy would be impacted, particularly if the market did not diversify.

Currently, Qatar has 127 hotels comprising 14,000 rooms. Of these, 86% of total keys are four- and five-star.

The mid-market represented just 4%, revealed Hewett.

“The midscale is severly underserved, and this will impact the market going forward,” said Hewett.

For a full report from the Qatar Hospitality Summit, see the May issue of Hotelier Middle East.