A recent review of Qatar Tourism Authority’s (QTA) mid-year tourism performance report for 2015 showed a seven percent increase in number of foreign visitors. This was for the first half of 2015 compared to 2014.
QTA data confirms that Qatar is on the path to meeting a milestone of three million visitors by 2015-end and to reaching a targeted seven million visitors by 2030.
Overall occupancy rates have grown from previous highs in 2014, even with addition of 1,400 new rooms since the start of 2015. Arrivals from the GCC, Qatar’s largest source market, grew substantially in the first six months of 2015 by 16% compared to last year.
The growth was primarily dominated by an increase in visitor arrivals from Saudi Arabia, which grew by 25% in the first six months of 2015 compared to 2014.
Most of this growth took place in March when visitor arrivals increased by 82% compared to March 2014. From mid-year 2014 to mid-year 2015, visitor arrivals from the UAE also grew during the first half of 2015 (by seven percent), while arrivals from Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman remained unchanged.
The largest growth in other primary markets outside the GCC, included arrivals from France (up eight percent), China (up seven percent) and the US (up six percent).
Since the start of 2015, 11 new hotels have opened, adding about 1,400 rooms to Qatar’s tourism accommodation stock. The new properties include five five-star, one four-star and five three-star hotels. An additional 13 properties with about 2,500 rooms are expected to come online before the year-end.
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