Cushman and Wakefield Qatar (CWQ) has observed that Qatar has seen strong domestic tourism especially for the beach-front hotels, and the hospitality sector will be boosted by the delivery of several major tourism and leisure projects.
In a recently published report, the Qatar subsidiary of a global commercial real estate services firm states that even though there has been a lack of international visitors to the country, there has been an increase in domestic tourism as residents have been able to make travel within the country.
The report remarked that beach-front hotels, in particular, have witnessed a sharp increase in ‘staycations’ as hotels started to open up in the second quarter of the year.
Mr. Edd Brookes, General Manager of CWQ observed that “whilst the difficulties of traveling have undoubtedly upset many holiday and work trips, this has meant an increase in domestic real estate transactions as well as a boost to the hospitality market in terms of staycations and food and beverage revenue once hotels were allowed to re-open.”
As per the report, the hospitality sector’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic would be boosted by the delivery of several major tourism and leisure projects
Cushman and Wakefield Qatar observed that the development of Zulal Wellness Resort, Salwa Beach Resort, Qetaifan Islands, Lusail, and Doha Oasis, as well as the redevelopment of Doha Port and regeneration of the historic city center, will all form part of the country’s tourism strategy to increase visitor numbers and help to boost occupancy rates and revenues in the hotel sector.
The recent Qatar Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) exhibit that lack of business and leisure visitors in recent months has resulted in hotel occupancy decreasing to 51 percent in July 2020 from 64 percent in July 2019.
The CWQ remarked that the use of hotels as quarantine facilities has helped to support occupancy rates but the tourism sector will need to have a robust recovery to maintain and boost occupancy rates in the long term.
The report observed that average daily rates (ADRs) for all hotels in Qatar stood at $104.09 with revenue per available room touching $53.28 at the end of June this year.
The report estimates that by September 2020 the supply of hotel keys would have increased to 28,249, up from 27,261 in December 2019.
