(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Sachin Kumar | The Peninsula
Doha: The number of hotels in Qatar has almost doubled between the year 2014 and 2016 with luxury hotels driving the growth of hospitality sector.
The number of hotels in the country grew by around 83 percent to 106 hotels in 2016 from 58 in 2014, according to Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics data.
Matching the trend, the total number of hotel rooms also surged by 46 percent during the period. There were total 13,937 hotels rooms in 2014 that increased to 20,308 in 2016.
Luxury hotels led from the front in pushing the growth of hospitality industry as their number increased by 40 during the period.
There were total 33 luxury hotels in 2014 which rose to 46 hotels in 2016.
According to the data, the number of ‘other hotels' increased from 52 to 60 during the period.
The robust growth in the number of hotels will continue in the coming years because proactive policies by concerned authorities to promote tourism which in turn attract more hotel companies to Qatar.
The ValuStrat report early last year had said that Rotana announced two new hotels, Downtown Arjaan and Plaza Rayhaan to open by 2019.
Minor Hotels had announced last year that it would open three hotels in Qatar in spring 2018 under its Tivoli and Oaks brands. The three properties are owned by Katara Hospitality.
Around 1.94 million visitors from across the globe visited Qatar until October 2017.
The growth was the result of steps taken by concerned authorities to promote tourism industry and putting the country in the global tourism map of the world.
Qatar, in September last year, launched the Next Chapter of its National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030.
The five-year plan, which was approved by the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment, is of crucial importance to accelerating the pace of tourism projects that will attract tourists to visit Qatar, as well as activating policies that will promote growth of the sector.
The Next Chapter aims to attract 5.6 million visitors to Qatar annually by 2023, double the number which the country welcomed in 2016.
It also aims to achieve a 72 percent occupancy rate across all hotel establishments, through a combination of increasing demand and diversifying the country´s tourist accommodation offering.
In August 2017, Qatar further eased its visa policies allowing citizens of 80 countries visa-free entry which makes Qatar the highest in the region in terms of number of nationalities eligible to enter visa-free, thus the most open country in the region.
Hospitality sector will also get boost from rising cruise tourism in the country.
Qatar is targeting cruise passengers to boost its tourism and Doha Port is aiming to attract half a million cruise passengers by 2022.
Doha Port welcomed just 4,000 cruise passengers in 2015 but this number jumped multiple times in just one year as the port received 35,000 cruise passengers in 2016.
The strong inflow of tourists is likely to continue.
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