Doha: Qatar is expected to be the leading contributor in the hospitality sector with a pipeline of 15,800 hotel keys by 2023, said Colliers a global leader in commercial real estate services in its Quarterly Review report of Mena hotels.
The performance among the hotels of all categories have seen rise in occupancy rates and revenue per available room in July, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) report. Three star hotels registered the highest occupancy rate in July due to gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions which has led to increase in hotel visitors. The occupancy rate of three star hotels has surged to 89 percent in July this year compared to 82 percent in June 2021 and 60 percent in July last year.
Similarly, the occupancy rate of four star hotels has jumped to 62 percent in July when compared to 59 percent in June. In case of two and one star, the hotels’ occupancy rates stood at 82 percent in July this year from 71 percent in the previous month of 2021. The occupancy rates of deluxe hotel apartments and standard hotel apartments for the month July this year were 60 percent and 78 percent respectively.
The lifting of restrictions by the Ministry of Public Health under Phase 3 also helped hospitality sector to grow as it has allowed cleaning and hospitality companies to provide their services through their employees who have completed doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
It has also allowed continuing to allow the organization of conferences, exhibitions, and events, with a capacity not exceeding 50 percent, after obtaining the approval of MoPH. The easing of restriction has also allowed malls to operate at 50 percent capacity, allowing children to enter, and allowing the opening of food courts at 30 percent capacity as well as prayer halls and changing rooms has further boosted it.
The average room rate for hotels and hotel apartments increased to QR463 in July this year from QR391 in July 2020.
In Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat, Amman and Qatar approximately 2,700 quality branded hospitality keys have entered the respective markets between second quarter of 2020 and 2021. Qatar accounted for the majority of the new supply in these markets with close to 1,000 new keys, the report noted.
In terms of Average Daily Rate (ADR), the recovery is seen to be sluggish while Doha has experienced an increase in ADR of 3 percent, all other regional markets continue to face decreases in ADR. The most significant ADR change can be noticed in the Muscat market which faced a 47 percent decline compared to Q2 2020 figures.
The branded hospitality market in these regional markets has reached approximately 46,400 keys as of Q2 2021, with Qatar being the largest contributor to the new supply followed by Muscat. The supply in these markets is expected to grow by 25,600 keys between 2021 and 2023, increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 percent. Qatar is expected to be the leading contributor with a pipeline of 15,800 keys.
