Standard hotel apartments in Qatar witnessed improved rooms' yield on an annualised basis amid an otherwise declining trend in the overall hospitality industry in July, although visitors into the country were on the rise on both yearly and monthly basis, according to the official estimates.
The occupancy was seen increasing in the case of standard and deluxe hotel apartments as well as two-and-one star hotels; while it fell in the five, four and three-star hotels, according to figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority.
The standard hotel apartments registered a 5.88% year-on-year increase in average revenue available per room to QR162 this July with occupancy jumping 1% to 77% and the average room rate by 4.98% to QR211 in the review period.
However, Qatar's overall hospitality sector saw a 16.67 year-on-year plunge in average revenue per available room to QR205 in July as the average room rate declined 17.92% to QR394 despite a 1% increase in occupancy to 52% in the review period.
The lower rooms’ yield comes amidst a 91.4% and 2.1% year-on-year and month-on-month increase in visitor arrivals to 287,963.
Visitor arrivals from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) were 134,894 or 47% of the total, followed by other Asia (including Oceania) 64,302 (22%), Europe 42,319 (15%), other Arab countries 20,057 (7%), Americas 19,383 (7%), and other African countries 7,008 (2%) in the review period.
On an annualised basis, visitor arrivals from other African countries zoomed 294.8%, followed by other Arab countries by 186.8%, other Asia (including Oceania) by 181.5%, Europe by 159.8%, Americas by 122.2% and the GCC by 43.8% in July 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, visitor arrivals from the other African countries grew 24.2%, Europe by 19.5%, the GCC by 13.7% and Americas by 7.5%; while those from other Arab countries and other Asia (including Oceania) declined by 23.6% and 17.6% respectively in the review period.
In the case of five-star hotels, the average revenue per available room decreased 18.04% to QR268 in July 2023 as the average room rate fell 11.25% to QR584 and the occupancy by 4% to 46%.
The average revenue per available room in the four-star hotels tanked 13.95% on a yearly basis to QR111 in July 2023 although the occupancy was flat at 50% but the average room rate dipped by 14.94% to QR222.
The three-star hotels saw a 23.23% year-on-year contraction in average revenue per available room to QR119 as the average room rate shrank 15.23% to QR167 and the occupancy by 8% to 71% in the review period.
The two-star and one-star hotels' average revenue per available room shrank 16.23% year-on-year to QR129 this July despite a 1% gain in the occupancy to 90%, even as the average room rate fell by 17.34% to QR143 at the end of July this year.
In the case of deluxe hotel apartments, the room yield was unchanged year-on-year at QR185 in July 2023 even though the average room rate plunged 17.47% to QR326 despite a 10% higher occupancy at 57%.