The Gulf State hosted the illustrious AFC Asian Cup from January 12 to February 10. 

Qatar’s hospitality and tourism sector witnessed a boost as hotels across the Gulf State saw a rise in occupancy rates, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) data.

Two- and one-star hotels recorded the highest occupancy rate in January this year while the country hosted the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, the data revealed.

The report also highlighted that the occupancy rate of two and one-star hotels surged to 102% in January 2024 compared to 77% in January last year. 

Meanwhile, the three-star hotel occupancy rate jumped to 95% in January 2024 against 69% in January 2023, while the four-star hotels reached 87% in January this year, which was 43% last year. 

In the case of five-star hotels, occupancy rates stood at 82%. 

The occupancy rates of deluxe hotel apartments and standard hotel apartments for January 2024 were 84% and 81%, respectively.

With over 102 nationalities able to visit visa-free, there were 4 million visitors in 2023, which exceeded the annual visitor numbers of the past five years, according to Qatar Tourism. 

Since the beginning of 2023, Qatar’s tourism figures have been visitors from Saudi Arabia, followed by India, Germany, the UK, and Kuwait.

Fifty-six percent of visitors chose to arrive by air, followed by land at 35% and sea at 9%. 

In October last year, Qatar hosted the first international debut of the renowned Geneva International Motor Show, which saw 180,000 visitors over ten days. 

The Gulf country also kicked off its 2023/24 cruise season following the arrival of Crystal Symphony in Doha. The new season will return in April 2024. 

Qatar welcomed millions of passengers in February 

Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) released its aviation statistics for February 2024 that revealed that the country recorded more than 4 million passengers in February compared to the same month in 2023, with over 3 million arrivals.

The total number of aircraft movements documented in February was 22,736, compared to 17,479 flight movements reported during the same period in 2023.

Additionally, passengers travelling through Qatar’s Hamad International Airport significantly increased during the month by over 27 percent compared to January 2023.