Following last week’s announcement that Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, tourism officials in the small Middle East state are turning their attention to increasing hotel inventory.
Qatari officials plan to focus on adding hotel stock in the 3- and 4-star categories, which are underrepresented currently. As of the start of this year, Qatar had fewer than 4,000 guestrooms operational at those star levels, according to Qatar Tourism Authority. The 5-star hotel segment is slightly better represented, with about 4,000 guestrooms.
Tourism officials are aiming for at least 90,000 guestrooms in operation by the start of the 2022 tournament.
Qatar occupancy was 61% for the first half of this year, up from 59% year over year, QTA reports.