AFC Asian Cup boosts Qatar’s hospitality sector and tourism in January 2024: PSA

The recently held AFC Asian Cup seems to have had profound impact on Qatar’s hospitality sector as rooms yield more than doubled on robust occupancy on an annualised basis in January 2024, according to the official estimates.
The surge in the country’s hospitality sector comes in view of a robust arrival of visitors, especially from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and other Arab countries reporting higher than national average growth, said the figures released by the PSA.
The substantially higher occupancy in January 2024 comes amidst 702,808 visitor arrivals, reporting 106.5% and 35.5% surge year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in the review period.
The visitor arrivals from the GCC were 370,051 or 53% of the total; followed by Europe 137,202 or 20%; other Asia (including Oceania) 103,713 or 15%; other Arab countries 51,583 or 7%; the Americas 31,297 or 4%; and other African countries 8,962 or 1%.
The visitor arrivals from other Arab countries zoomed 446.1% and 29.9% year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in January 2024 and those from the GCC grew 160.6% and 116.4% on yearly and monthly basis.
The visitor arrivals from other Asia (including Oceania) shot up 79% year-on-year but declined 9.3% on a monthly basis and those from other African countries zoomed 49.1% on an annualised basis even as it shrank 36.9% on a monthly basis in the review period.
The visitor arrivals from Europe were seen expanding 36.6% year-on-year but was down 5.1% month-on-month; while those from the Americas grew 27.5% on an annualised basis while it declined 10.5% on a monthly basis in January 2024.
The country’s overall hospitality sector saw a 112.18% year-on-year surge in average revenue per available room to QR418 in January 2024 as the average room rate jumped 17.73% to QR498 and occupancy by 37% to 84% in the review period.
In the case of five-star hotels, the average revenue per available room increased 101.13% on annualised basis to QR533 in January 2024 as the average room rate grew 13.44% to QR650 and the occupancy by 36% to 82%.
The average revenue per available room in the four-star hotels zoomed 173.27% on a yearly basis to QR276 in January 2024 as the average room rate grew 34.75% to QR318 and the occupancy by 44% to 87%.
The three-star hotels saw a 102.33 year-on-year surge in average revenue per available room to QR261 as average room rate shot up 45.5% to QR275 and the occupancy by 26% to 95% in the review period.
The two-star and one-star hotels’ average revenue per available room increased 65.63% year-on-year to QR212 in January 2024 as the average room rate grew 24.55% to QR208 and the occupancy by 25% to 102%.
The deluxe hotel apartments saw a 121.43% year-on-year lift in average revenue available per room to QR372 in January 2024 as the average room rate in the category was seen gaining 14.07% on an annualised basis to QR446 and the occupancy by 41% to 84% in the review period.
In the case of standard hotel apartments, the room yield expanded 118.87% year-on-year to QR232 this January as the average room rate was up 26.99% to QR287 and the occupancy by 34% to 81%.