A guide to Qatar's hotel plans

The Qatar Financial Centre building in Doha, which is at the heart of the gas-rich state?s efforts to develop itself as a financial hub for the Gulf r

OPERATOR’S VIEW

Although the number of openings was significantly lower than the figure QTA originally announced, the hotels which are currently operating reported steady levels of occupancy, concurring with the figures released by QTA for the first half of 2010.

Commenting on business at the Best Western Doha Seef Hotel, Best Western International vice president of international operations — Asia and the Middle East, Glenn de Souza said: “With our current 180-room Best Western Doha Seef, we have been enjoying ADR of US $162 year round and the demand for rooms is still growing strong”.

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De Souza attributed the positive rates to business tourism in the country, adding: “The business travel segment is definitely growing in Qatar and that puts the country as one of Best Western’s top strategic destinations for brand expansion. The country is regarded as a high-quality destination for MICE in the GGC region.”

There is no doubt that business tourism is the bread and butter of Qatar’s tourism industry; the hotel market in Doha historically depending on this market along with the government sector, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels senior vice-president — head of hotel advisory Chiheb Ben Mahmoud.

“With the financial crisis, Doha has experienced a softening in corporate demand. However, the business segment is expected to remain the main contributor in the short to medium term. Moving forward, Qatar is one of the few countries expected to experience a positive GDP growth in 2010,” he said.

And creating demand remains an important focus for QTA if it is to ensure that the number of hotels coming up does not saturate the market. It is hoped that larger developments which include hotels will drive, as well as benefit from, visitors to the country.

One such development is Dohaland, which will be completed in stages, with the first stage to be completed in 2014, and the project in its entirety planned for completion in 2016.

Dohaland Hospitality chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Al Emadi said: “We are putting Qatar on the map and bringing new hotel operators and players on to the market.”

“Of course there will be more need with the new airport and growth of different sectors because if you want to become a tourist destination it is not just that you add five-star hotels, there are a number of facilities supporting the destination,” he added.

However, Premier Inn managing director Darroch Crawford said it was important for the hotel market to diversify to avoid over-supply.

“Certainly business travel to Doha is growing and in particular in the area we are developing a hotel, where there are no other hotels at the moment, but I think there is a risk of saturation at the high-end because lots of people are building five-star hotels,” he said.

This was echoed by Ben Mahmoud, but he said that this issue was being addressed by the variety of projects coming on to the market.

“The Doha hotel supply is growing its diversity. The emergence of budget and midscale offerings will offer a wider range of products on the market,” he explained.