By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

The occupancy rates of the country’s hotels in 2014 went up by 8% compared to the previous year, according to a report released by globally acclaimed real estate house DTZ.

While the average occupancy in 2013 was only 65%, last year it went up to 73%, the agency said quoting a Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) report.

As per the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy (QNTSS) plan 2030, which was published last year, the number of tourists and visitors to Qatar would come close to seven million/year by 2030. Last year, the country issued 2.8 mn visas, which reflected an increase of nearly 8% over the previous year.

The report, quoting QTA, has foreseen an investment close to $45 billion in private and public sectors in coming years to boost the hospitality industry.

The report also says the country has ambitious plans to boost the tourist traffic from outside the GCC to nearly 64% by 2030. Now the tourist industry, it points out, relies mainly on visitors from Saudi Arabia.

The DTZ finding is that a combination of increased arrivals of visitors and limited new supply in the market were the key drivers for increased occupancy rates throughout 2014.

The agency has also reported the opening of three major hotels in the first quarter of this year, namely The Kempinski Marsa Malaz on the Pearl Qatar, Doha Warwick Hotel on Rayyan Road and Melia Hotel in the West Bay. With the commissioning of the above hotels the total number of hotels and serviced apartments in the country has risen to 111. With this, the number of rooms has risen to 17400 of which 86% are either in the four-star or 5-star categories, the DTZ studies have noticed, quoting QTA figures.

Fresh reports from the QTA have said approvals for the construction of 124 new hotel establishments are in place and when completed the number of rooms would rise to approximately 35000. The agency’s own research has identified that 32 new hospitality developments are currently under construction and it could increase the market supply over the next three years by nearly 10,000 rooms.

Despite increased occupancy levels, the average daily rates (ADR) fell for the sixth year running since 2008, it is reported. The DTZ expects it to come down further in near future as nearly 4000 new rooms are expected to be completed in the remaining part of the ongoing year.

The report has recalled that owing to a phenomenal growth in the number of hotels over the last six years, the ADR at luxury hotels which was a little over QR1000 in 2009 is now close to only QR600. In 2012 with ADR hovering around QR800, the occupancy rates fell to a little over 50%.

Another interesting finding is that in the first quarter of this year, 44% of the hotel keys (rather rooms) fell in the five-star category while 42% accounted for four-star status. As many as 13% of the hotels belonged to 3-star category.