On the outskirts of Doha, low-rise apartment blocks are starting to take shape that will house many of the soccer fans due to descend on the Qatari capital next year for the World Cup 2022.
Qatar, which has been in the spotlight for its treatment of migrant workers on construction sites, hopes the tournament will attract 1.2 million visitors, roughly a third of its population.
But organisers told Reuters they expect to be able to offer up to 130,000 rooms, including hotels, which could leave thousands of fans scrambling for accommodation when matches start next November.
And those hoping for city views may be disappointed. The Madinatna complex, capable of housing up to 27,000 fans sharing apartments, is surrounded by an 18-lane expressway and a stark expanse of desert 25 kms (15 miles) from Doha’s centre.
Organisers have announced only partial details about how and where they plan to find 130,000 rooms, saying the total stock of hotel rooms would be announced “in due course.
“It’s really frustrating when the host country makes promises about available and affordable accommodation, and then we get closer to a tournament and we see a shortage,” said Ronan Evian, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, a network of European soccer fans.
Qatar will have fewer than 50,000 hotel rooms ready by next November, according to estimates by Qatar Tourism, a government body that sets strategy and regulates tourism. And not all hotel rooms will be available to fans as many have been reserved for players and FIFA officials, hotel sources said.
Two cruise ships, one still under construction in France, and shared villas and apartments, including those at Madinatna, would provide at least another 64,000 rooms, most of them to be managed by Accor, Europe’s largest hotel operator.
A construction frenzy continues at the site of Madinatna (Our City), due to be completed in spring, and at more than two dozen hotel sites.
Authorities have banned all hotels from accepting individual reservations starting November until the tournament’s conclusion on Dec. 23, according to a circular issued earlier this year.
Instead, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy will handle sales of nearly all accommodation options in Qatar. The government has capped hotel rates specifically for the World Cup, but rates for other accommodation have not yet been set.
World Cup rates for all but two- and three-star hotels look set to exceed the most recently published average nightly room rate of 438 riyals ($120).
The scramble to secure accommodation has seen some furnished apartments and villas rented only to tenants agreeing to short-term leases. A rental agent at the Grand Hyatt’s furnished villas, for example, said all new leases must end in March 2022.
It has driven up rental prices, which had been declining for years. Asking prices for apartments and villas have recently increased by 5-10%, said a recent real estate market review by Cushman and Wakefield.
REUTERS
