A total of 4,689 new hotel rooms are expected to be added to the Qatari hospitality market during this year, the latest data by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has revealed. As many as 41 new hotels will be operational by the end of 2010, the agency said, according to the Peninsula newspaper. Last year the number of available hotel rooms in the country increased by 25 percent compared to the previous year. "The global economic crisis has taken its toll on the world tourism sector," Ahmed Abdullah Al Nuaimi, QTA chairman, told the newspaper. "A thriving hotel industry is a key component for any country's tourism sector," Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted the Chairman as saying in a statement carried by the newspaper. According to the data the total number of three-star hotel rooms in Qatar rose from 964 in 2008 to 1,084 in 2009. During the same time the number of four-star rooms also increased from 2,155 to 2,760, and the number of five-star grew from 3,056 to 4,059. However, the QTA said hotel occupancy rates fell by 6.3 percent last year compared to 2008, and the revenues earned by four and five-star hotels fell by QR33m and QR10m respectively.
