Among other speakers on the panel are Fahd Al-Rasheed, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of King Abdullah Economic City; Amr Abdel Ghaffar, UNWTO Regional Director for the Middle East; and Amine Moukarzel, President of Golden Tulip Hotels in the MENA region. In this session, which will be moderated by Anita Mendiratta, Founder & Managing Director of CACHET Consulting, the participants will discuss the GCC vision for the hotel industry; the GCC governments’ plans for sustainable growth, demand generators, and tourism infrastructure; and how public private partnerships are facilitating investment into this sector.
Commenting on the participation, His Excellency Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Chairman of QTA said: “As part of its efforts to create appropriate investment opportunities for Qatar and inform the world of Qatar’s vision based on Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, QTA makes sure to extend its presence at all major tourism conferences and events in the region.”
“QTA works to develop all human and economic aspects of tourism. Based on its strategic plans, it creates partnerships with the private sector and with all tourism stakeholders to implement laws and regulations that would ensure the development of this sector and the adoption of the best practices in the industry.”, added, Al Mohannadi.
During the two-day event, organized by Bench Events and MEED under the theme “a decade of defining the hotel investment landscape,” senior hotel investors, developers, operators, and advisors from across the region will discuss the growth of the hospitality and tourism sectors in the Middle East and North Africa and exchange views and ideas on the most important issues of concern to the hotel sector, including branded residences and offerings by mid-size hotels and hotel apartments.
Qatar plans to invest upto $20bn in the tourism sector in this decade and spend $44bn on the tourism infrastructure to improve tourism offerings. Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 aims to increase number of visitors to Qatar from 1.2 million tourists in 2012 to 7 million by 2030, with tourist spending expected to increase from $1.4bn in 2012 to $10.7bn in 2030.
These targets are already being reflected with 2013 recording overall hotel revenues reaching QAR3,58bn (about $983m) , up by 13% from the previous year. 4 and 5 star room occupancy was up by 5% even as new properties came on the market. A further 124 hotels and hotel apartments are currently being developed to cater to even higher numbers of visitors in the years ahead.
Figures QTA recently released showed that the tourism industry in Qatar continued to grow in 2013, benefitting from new investment and promotion. Key indicators of the tourism sector demonstrated improvement and growth from the previous year, with the number of tourists from the GCC increasing by 14% and from the rest of the world by 9%.
Qatar Tourism Authority to mark strong presence at Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2014
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