Qatar's hotels see improved room yield in February 2024; visitors arriving through road outpace those coming by flight: PSA

The AFC Asian Cup continued to have its positive contribution to Qatar's hospitality sector, which saw considerable improvement in room yield this February, as the country recorded double-digit growth in visitor arrivals, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).

The hotels' overall revenue-per-available-room surged on an annualised basis on increasing average room rate and occupancy. Four-star hotels as well as deluxe and standard hotel apartments saw higher than average room yield growth in the review period, according to PSA data.

The robust yearly occupancy comes amidst visitor arrivals of 595,934 in February 2024. On a yearly basis, the total visitor arrivals shot up 53.1% in the review period.

Visitors arriving by flight reported a 64.43% year-on-year jump to 284,771 (48% of total arrivals) in February 2024 and through land by 75.37% to 231,660 (39%); while those arriving through sea were down 5.29% to 79,503 (13%).

The visitor arrivals from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) were 252,760 or 42% of the total; followed by Europe 161,223 (27%), other Asia (including Oceania) 96,036 (16%), other Arab countries 49,250 (8%), the Americas 28,971 (5%), and other African countries 7,694 (1%) in February 2024.

On an annualised basis, the visitor arrivals from other Arab countries soared 113.1%, the GCC by 72.9%, other African countries by 68.8%, other Asia (including Oceania) by 34.4%, Europe by 33.4% and the Americas by 26.2% in February 2024.

On a month-on-month basis, the visitor arrivals to Qatar fell 15.2% with those coming from the GCC declining 31.7%, other African countries by 14.2%, other Asia (including Oceania) by 7.4%, the Americas by 7.4% and other Arab countries by 4.5%; while those from Europe shot up 17.5% in the review period.

Qatar's hospitality sector saw an 83.4% year-on-year surge in rooms yield to QR453 in February 2024 as average room rate increased by 23.2% to QR531 and occupancy by 28% to 85%.

The five-star hotels' room yield soared 73.81% year-on-year to QR584 as average room rate grew 18.91% to QR698 and occupancy by 27% in the review period.

The four-star hotels room yield zoomed 106.02% on a yearly basis to QR274 as the average room rate shot up 32.92% to QR323 and occupancy by 30% to 85% in February 2024.

The three-star hotels' room yield expanded by 78.62% on an annualised basis to QR259 this February as average room rate grew 47.87% to QR278 and occupancy by 16% to 93%.

The two-star and one-star hotels' room yield increased by 60.14% year-on-year to QR221 as the average room rate rose 28.99% to QR218 and occupancy by 20% to 102% in February this year.

The deluxe hotel apartments registered a 96.63% surge in room yield to QR409 with the average room rate escalating 20.93% to QR468 and occupancy by 34% to 88% in the review period.

In the case of standard hotel apartments, room yield shot up 110.53% year-on-year to QR240 in February 2024 as the average room rate increased by 42.34% to QR316 and occupancy by 25% to 76%.