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310840
Sat, 12/14/2013 - 12:42
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National Day: Qatar Tourism Authority .. Achievements in Numbers

Doha, December 14 (QNA) - Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is the body entrusted with branding the environmental and natural components of Qatar as an upscale tourist destination for culture, business, education and sports, as it is working effectively to support and enable the growth of this industry in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030. In consistency with this vision, QTA has been working with various partners and stakeholders to ensure the sustainable development of a vibrant and self-sufficient tourism industry. It has also started developing the national strategy for tourism, which represents a new phase in the tourism industry in the State of Qatar. During the year 2012-2013, the percentage of room occupancy reached 60 % of the total hotel capacity (13.407), while the number of hotel rooms grew by 18% compared with 2011 and the number of hotel establishments during the same year reached 81 hotels. There are also 110 under-construction hotel establishments which are expected to supply the hotel sector by about 18,931 rooms and suits. The revenues of the 4 and 5 star hotel establishments operating in the country has seen remarkable growth in the year 2012 to reach a total of QAR 3.1 billion, of which revenues from rooms, food and beverages contributed the biggest portion. The number of tourists who came to Qatar from the GCC countries during 2012 was 952.856 of them 574.127 came from Saudi Arabia (the biggest portion), 116.670 from UAE, 102.729 from Bahrain, 100.961 from Oman and 58.369 from Kuwait. The QTA report for 2013 third quarter shows that the tourism sector has witnessed a qualitative improvement and strong growth in this period compared with the third quarter of the previous year (2012), as the percentage of hotel occupancy for the same period went up from 50 to 57% despite the entry of 600 rooms to the market, an increase of 4.73 % compared to the same period of last year. Total revenue of the four and five-star hotels and increased by QAR 85.3 million, bringing the total revenues in the third quarter to QAR 703.1 million riyals, up by 13.81% compared to the same period of 2012. Despite the occurrence of the third quarter in the summer season, the rate of demand remained high as the revenue of the room increased by 19% compared to the third quarter of 2012, while the number of hotel rooms four and five-star room has reached 11.717 out of 13.551 room in the Qatari market. The number of rooms available in the market increased this year, whoever average price of the room per day in 4 and 5 stars hotels rose by 8.82 percent from the previous year, to the average of QAR 293 to 319, and the revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose by 4.41 percent compared the same period of last year. QTA's overseas efforts were culminated by signing a joint cooperation agreement with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) upon which UNWTO supports QTA in a number of sustainable tourism programmes to ensure upgrading of the tourism industry to the best international practices. It also, actively, participated in developing the Unified Arab strategy for tourism, which was approved in the Arab summit. QTA took a leading role in supporting the marketing and promotion programmes of the strategy. Foreign Cooperation was enriched by signing several memoranda of understanding (MOUs) in the field of tourism with South American countries including Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina. In addition, an MOU was signed with India on organizing joint exhibitions. Aiming at activating the movement of conferences and business tourism, QTA organized several events, such as the 10th Watches and Jewelry exhibition and the Summer Trade Fair 2012-2013. In addition QTA has developed a new marketing strategy through developing its own trade mark to access new international markets, enhancing its official website and updating its promotional materials. (QNA)

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