According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, Lebanon’s occupancy rate stood 5th at 56% by November (same as Jordan) amongst the MENA countries, ahead of Egypt, Bahrain, and Kuwait, while losing to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. Notably, Dubai still leads with an 80% rate by the 11th month of the year.
Lebanon’s occupancy rate increased by 5 percentage points (p.p.) to 56% in the first 11 months of 2015, while Cairo’s occupancy rate edged up by 12 p.p. to 48%, registering the highest annual improvement. It’s worth mentioning that these improvements follow a low base considering the uncertainly pertaining to the Lebanese and Egyptian political scenes. The latter development mainly is attributed to the better economic and political outlook in Egypt since last year. The third largest rise in occupancy rates, by November, was noted in Jeddah, Madina, Riyadh and Dubai as they respectively increased by 1 p.p. each to 77%, 78%, 64% and 80%.
Over the same period, the largest downturn in 4 and 5 star hotels’ occupancy rate was in Amman, Jordan, which lost 6 p.p yearly to 56% followed by Mekkah, Saudi Arabia which also recorded a 3 p.p. yearly decrease to 50% by November. These falls might have been due to the heightened political risk in both countries, following the participation in airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Concerning Lebanon’s average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPar), they added 2.0% and 11.5% to $175 and $99, respectively. In Cairo, the ADR surged 20.9% to $112, while its RevPar increased by close two thirds to reach $54 up to November of this year. Not surprisingly, Dubai’s ADR and RevPar were the highest in the region at $256 and $219respectively, despite losing 6.5% and 6.2% y-o-y, over the same period.
Looking at the month of November alone, Beirut’s occupancy rate stood at 56%, a 3 p.p. increment from November 2014’s level, and with the ADR lost 8.2% to $154, while the RevPar fell by 1.6% to $88.
Lebanon’s Monthly Hotel Occupancy Rate
Source: EY Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey