Qatar hotels register improved room yield in June as visitors record double-digit annual growth: NPC

Qatar's hospitality sector painted a rosy picture in June 2024 on improved room yield and occupancy, especially in five-star and deluxe hotel apartment categories, amidst double digit year-on-year growth in visitors, particularly from the Gulf, Europe and the Americas, according to the official estimates.

The visitor arrivals witnessed a strong double-digit jump year-on-year in the review period, according to figures released by the National Planning Council. Visitor arrivals are those non-residents travelling to Qatar on a short-term basis for all purposes, including arrivals at borders under 15 different visit visa classes and also include business and leisure visa types while excluding work visas.

Qatar witnessed 316,346 visitor arrivals in June 2024, registering 12.2% and 0.9% growth on yearly and monthly basis respectively in the review period. Visitors arriving by flight reported a 3.54% year-on-year jump in June 2024, land by 25.17% and sea by 10.49%.

The visitor arrivals from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) were 148,937 or 47% of the total; followed by other Asia (including Oceania) 71,417 (23%), Europe 46,124 (15%), other Arab countries 21,495 (7%), the Americas 21,102 (7%) and other African countries 7,271 (2%) in June 2024.

On an annualised basis, the visitor arrivals from other European countries were seen soaring 30.2%, other African countries by 28.9%, the GCC by 25.6% and the Americas by 17%; while those coming from other Arab countries and other Asia (including Oceania) declined 18.2% and 8.5% respectively in June 2024.

On a month-on-month basis, the visitor arrivals from the GCC and other African countries shot up 17.3% and 11.1% respectively, whereas those from Europe shrank 24.7%, other Arab countries by 8.4%, the Americas by 4.7% and other Asia (including Oceania) by 2.5% in the review period.

Qatar's hospitality sector saw a 10.45% year-on-year surge in room yield to QR243 in June 2024 as average room rate was up 1% to QR406 and occupancy by 5% to 60%.

The five-star hotels' room yield zoomed 7.85% year-on-year to QR316 as occupancy improved by 4% to 53% even as the average room rate shrank 1.33% to QR595 in the review period.

The four-star hotels room yield enhanced 5.74% on a yearly basis to QR129 as the occupancy improved 7% to 61%, even as the average room rate fell 6.17% to QR213 in June 2024.

However, the three-star hotels' room yield fell 4.62% on an annualised basis to QR124 this June as average room rate decreased by 4.02% to QR167 amidst flat occupancy at 75%.

The two-star and one-star hotels reported 13.97% year-on-year contraction in room yield to QR117 as the average room rate shrank 4.58% to QR146 and the occupancy by 9% to 80% in June this year.

The deluxe hotel apartments registered a 24.74% year-on-year surge in room yield to QR237 as occupancy improved 10% to 68% and average room rate by 6.12% to QR347 in June 2024.

In the case of standard hotel apartments, room yield plummeted 26.51 on an annualised basis to QR122 in June 2024 with occupancy plunging 21% to 55% as average room rate was up 2.23% to QR224.