DOHA: The rapid growth of the hospitality industry is not going to have any adverse impact on the business of the existing hotels, says a senior official from the industry.
There are more than 20,000 hotel rooms of all categories in Qatar. As part of preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the number is expected to double or triple by 2022, which is a major cause of concern for the industry.
As a result of Qatar hosting an increasing number of international conferences and other events, the lean-business periods for hotels are shrinking every year, according to the official.
“Earlier, summer and the Christmas period used to have slow business, but as the country has become very active in terms of hosting mega events, it is creating a lot of pressure in the market, shrinking that period”, said Hoss Vetry (pictured), Cluster General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton Doha and Sharq Village and Spa.
Veteran said this year’s events are spread out, with two mega events in the fourth quarter of the year. “As of now, we have a couple of big events in the coming months, although not like last year.”
In terms of business, 2008 was the best year so far, he said, adding that big events such as the World Petroleum Congress, Arab Games and COP18 were “amazing”.
“We are maintaining our everyday customers, and whenever there is a city-wide event, we benefit from that. And I am 100 percent sure about a major announcement in the last quarter” he added.
With the opening of St Regis Doha and re-branding of Ramada Hotel as Radisson Blu last year, competition is said to be getting stiffer.
According to the latest figures available, the average occupancy rate in Qatar’s hotels was 70 percent. Last year, some hotels offered discounts of up to 50 percent on room rents during summer, when vacationers spend their holidays outside the country.
Reiterating his confidence in the market despite the growing competition, Veteran said: “I am not worried; I sleep very well at night. Every hotel has its own niche market and strategy. They are also nice hotels; I have nothing negative to say about them. We compete with ourselves.”
He added: “The hospitality industry is growing positively. Everybody’s fear that new hotels will bring businesses down is not true. The country is growing. It is involved with almost every nation in the world. In addition, with the inauguration of New Doha International Airport, coupled with the ever-growing Qatar Airways, Doha is expected to become a transit hub, which will give a major boost to the sector.
“If you see our growth figures for the last two years, we had the biggest index change of 1.29 (an average growth rate of 12 percent) among all the players, which is tremendous.”
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