Qatar’s hospitality and tourism industries will witness a significant recovery in 2022 due to the upcoming major events in the country and several other factors, a senior hotelier has told Gulf Times.
“The general outlook for Qatar’s hospitality sector looks positive, the expectations are to exceed the 2019 spending levels in 2022," Movenpick Hotel Doha’s general manager Sami Aawar explained.
“This is driven by many factors, starting with the high profile planned events, the expected completion of many projects, the logistics preparation/events prior to and during the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qatar,” the hotelier said. “Coupled with the strict and safe local Covid-19 policies, I believe, the tourism sector will experience a steady obvious improvement throughout 2022”.
Aawar said that Qatar is looking forward to welcome numerous hotels with more than 9,000 rooms in the coming years, noting that “Lusail, West Bay, and The Pearl Qatar mainly will get many new openings, some will be in the four-star segment and the rest fall into the luxury type”.
It is learnt that the recently held FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 served as a windfall for several hotels, as well as restaurants, increasing their occupancy prior and during the event.
About initiatives to further boost these sectors, he noted that “tourism is visibly supported in Doha in terms of events, exhibitions and recently for the first time, the Qatar Travel Mart.
“Moreover, a new recreational line started to be more visible, where more resorts with water parks are opened and some planned in 2022”.
Since Qatar serves as a hub for trade and travel for multiple destinations, Aawar said the Qatar government did “a solid approach in implementing a cohesive general action plan that covered different sectors in parallel to the health division”.
“One of the successful actions was the ‘Welcome Home Quarantine Programme’, managed by Discover Qatar. This drive allowed Qatar to take control of the access to and from the country and at the same time limit the spread of the virus.
“Moreover, it allowed the hotels optionally to be part of this programme, which supported the hospitality sector positively and permitted the hotels to maintain a good level of occupancy.”
“The general outlook for Qatar’s hospitality sector looks positive, the expectations are to exceed the 2019 spending levels in 2022," Movenpick Hotel Doha’s general manager Sami Aawar explained.
“This is driven by many factors, starting with the high profile planned events, the expected completion of many projects, the logistics preparation/events prior to and during the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qatar,” the hotelier said. “Coupled with the strict and safe local Covid-19 policies, I believe, the tourism sector will experience a steady obvious improvement throughout 2022”.
Aawar said that Qatar is looking forward to welcome numerous hotels with more than 9,000 rooms in the coming years, noting that “Lusail, West Bay, and The Pearl Qatar mainly will get many new openings, some will be in the four-star segment and the rest fall into the luxury type”.
It is learnt that the recently held FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 served as a windfall for several hotels, as well as restaurants, increasing their occupancy prior and during the event.
About initiatives to further boost these sectors, he noted that “tourism is visibly supported in Doha in terms of events, exhibitions and recently for the first time, the Qatar Travel Mart.
“Moreover, a new recreational line started to be more visible, where more resorts with water parks are opened and some planned in 2022”.
Since Qatar serves as a hub for trade and travel for multiple destinations, Aawar said the Qatar government did “a solid approach in implementing a cohesive general action plan that covered different sectors in parallel to the health division”.
“One of the successful actions was the ‘Welcome Home Quarantine Programme’, managed by Discover Qatar. This drive allowed Qatar to take control of the access to and from the country and at the same time limit the spread of the virus.
“Moreover, it allowed the hotels optionally to be part of this programme, which supported the hospitality sector positively and permitted the hotels to maintain a good level of occupancy.”
