Qatar tourist numbers up 7%
ATP- Arab tourism portal- DOHA, Qatar saw tourist numbers increase by 7 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period a year ago, said a report.Data from Qatar Tourism Authority’s (QTA) Mid-Year Tourism Performance Report for 2015 showed that GCC nationals topped the tourist chart, with the number of Gulf travelers jumping 16 percent compared to the same period in 2014, said a report in The Peninsula Qatar.
Travelers from Saudi Arabia dominated the growth, increasing by 25 percent, particularly in March when overall tourist arrivals soared 82 percent.Visitor arrivals from the UAE also grew during the first half of the year, by 7 percent, while the number of visitors from Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman remained unchanged, the report said.
Source markets outside the GCC also reported positive numbers with the largest growth recorded from France (up 8 percent), China (up 7 percent) and the US (up 6 percent), it said.
Similarly, hotels and serviced apartments have shown a positive performance during the first six months of the year, with an average 77 percent occupancy, growing further with the addition of 1,400 rooms across 11 new hotels since January.An additional 13 hotels with around 2,500 rooms are expected to come in to the market before year end, it said.
