(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The total number of international visitors to Qatar increased by 11 percent in the first quarter this year compared to the same period last year, says the first quarter tourism performance summary report Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) released yesterday.
The report revealed continued growth in Qatar's tourism industry with all key indicators of the tourism sector demonstrating improvement and growth against the same period last year.
Regional and international visitor arrivals totalled 841,025, representing a strong 11 percent year-on-year increase. In comparison to Q1 2014, arrivals from the Americas grew by 17 percent, from Europe by nine percent, and from Other Asia by seven percent. Arrivals from the GCC, Qatar's largest source market, grew markedly in Q1 2015, increasing by 16 percent compared to the same quarter of 2014.
Arrivals from other Arab and other African nations remained roughly the same.
The overall growth from the GCC countries was primarily dominated by an increase in visitor arrivals from Saudi Arabia which grew by 28 percent in Q1 2015 compared to the same quarter of 2014. The majority of this growth took place in March when visitor arrivals grew by 82 percent compared to March 2014, with 241,008 Saudi visitors entering Qatar. At the same time, visitor arrivals from Bahrain, Oman, and UAE also grew during the first quarter of 2015, however, by modest rates.
Regarding accommodation sector performance, all segments performed well for the first quarter of 2015, with only 5-star hotels and deluxe apartments reporting occupancy rates slightly below 80 percent.
Occupancy rates across all hotels reached 82 percent in Q1 2015, up 8 percent in comparison to the same period last year. At the same time, average room rates dropped slightly by 1 percent, primarily driven by drops in 4-, 2- and 1-Star hotels.
QTA began collecting performance statistics from hotel apartments for the first time in January 2015. Q1 hotel apartments' data show strong performance similar to hotel properties, with an average occupancy rate of 80 percent across all related establishments.
Qatar hosted many entertainment events, as well as a growing number of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) activities during the first quarter of 2015, which contributed to the realized growth in the tourism sector.
"The month of March witnessed the largest monthly influx of arrivals in Qatar's history. As tourism is a key piece of diversifying the national economy we look positively on these developments" said Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer at QTA.
"These impressive results prompt us to build on them by providing the tourism and hospitality sector with full support, so that it can grow and flourish to carry on its ascending trajectory and achieve even better results in the second quarter of 2015," added Al Ibrahim.
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