Business demand from Asia up 14% in Doha

In a panel session at Hotelier Middle East Qatar Hospitality Summit which took place yesterday at Grand Hyatt, Doha, hoteliers discussed how best to attract the growing number of Asian visitors in Qatar to their hotels.

An opening address by Chris Hewett, senior consultant at TRI Consulting Middle East, highlighted that business demand from Asia in Qatar was up 14% in 2013 from 2012 and that hoteliers must look at ways of capturing their share of the growing market.

Panelist Anand Jindal, revenue director, Grand Hyatt Doha commented: “It would be good if hotels could have a Chinese page to customise guest experience at an early stage. Hoteliers will have to customise service offerings to suit different nationalities, e.g. does the room service menu have two or three options for Chinese guests?”

Oryx Rotana Doha cluster director of sales Gabriele Ferola added that he believes attracting Asian guests is about providing a very high level of service which is something that Asian visitors, especially those from China and India, expect.

He said: “The biggest thing lacking here is service; they are used to extremely high standards of service; they’re born and brought up with great manpower resources and when they have spending power they are used to that service. If you go to Shanghai you’ll have a person to press the button for the elevator to take you to your room – you won’t find that in Qatar.”

Despite the positive growth figures, visa restrictions were still outlined as a key barrier to boosting further growth of the Asian market, a point highlighted by Puneet Baijal, executive assistant manager, food & beverage, Grand Hyatt Doha. “Looking at the amount of development Qatar is going through I think there’s a strong need for QTA to think about their visa regulations," he said.

"This process of visa restrictions needs some sort of alignment to their vision.”

Qatar attracted over 1.3 million visitors in 2013, up 8.3% from 1.2 million in 2012. Overall revenues increased 13% or US $112.92 million (approx QAR 411.1 million).